


Blind Leading The Blind

by Ncj700



Series: Love Somebody AU [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Analysis is everywhere, And this is also why we can't have nice things, Antok does not do off-road travel, BOGH, BOGH BOGH BOGH BOGH BOGH, BUT WHEN IT'S CONVENIENT, DEFCON ONE, Do you know which character infuriated me the most in the writing?, Drama™, Extorion, F/F, F/M, FUCK, FUCK YEA KILL BOT PHANTASM BABY, Fire, Gen, Graphic Imagery, Hostage Situations, I REPEAT SHIT IS AT DEFCON ONE, If keith and pidge dont get their meet-cute, Its not a good plan, JUST JUMP OFF A CLIFF SENDAK, KATIE WHAT DID YOU DO, Keith Romelle is still salty you missed her wedding, Keith also wishes sendak would die in a fire, Keith channels his inner Criminal Minds protagonist, Keith has issues too, Keith is a suspicious bastard and we all support this, Keith is also bad at people, Keith is done with the shenanigans, Keith is just paranoid at this point, Keith is shook, Keith keep your head on, Keith needs a chill pill, Keith needs a holiday, Keith you have no room to disapprove drastic ideas, Keith's bad juju senses were right, Kidnapping, Kolivan has the worst job, Kolivan is gonna need some panadol, Komelle Bonding, Kosmo just want's more screentime, Kosmo just wants to help, Krolia is a good Mum, M/M, Matt isnt wrong, Murphys Law, Oh you sweet summer children, Regris has enough salt for everyone, Regris is once again here to save the day, Regris is the real MVP, Rolo's Debut, Romelle and Matt do, Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, Sendak is just lording it like the bitch he is now, Shiro is literally so perfect he’s a suspect, Someone give the Holts a hug, Soulmate AU, StepDad!Thace, TAKE THAT SENDAK YOU BITCH, THIS CHARACTER MADE ME EXPERIENCE RAGE TYPING, Terrorism, Thace does not enjoy off-grid driving, The community would appreciate that, Torture, UK police terminology bc there aren't enough PCs in fics outside of the BBC Sherlock fandom, WE BELIVE IN HAPPY ENDINGS, We need fluff to soothe the pain thats coming, What you thought i was gonna give him a break?, Which character did I want to strangle the most? BOGH, Which character was my Favourite to write? BOGH, Zethrid is the MVP this chapter, but its a start, but psychopathic arson terrorists, coulda shoulda woulda, even if Keith has no idea what he's talking about, i'm sorry matt, just a vibe i'm getting, keith is so done, keith needs to punch someone, mentions of amputation, ofc pidge ran away from her bodyguards, police dogs, sendak is a dickhead, sorry Matt, that red tape though, this is a horrible conflguration, this is not going to be helpful, this is not the droid he was looking for, we going to be saying that a lot my friends, you didnt deserve this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:55:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 120,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22695898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ncj700/pseuds/Ncj700
Summary: Keith took a breath, then pulled down the cuff of the glove, showing the detective the scrawl—‘Please don’t hurt me’—on his wrist which usually remained carefully blocked from sight. “If meeting my soul mate means they’d have to be in danger for me to find them, I’d rather not meet them at all.”
Relationships: Colleen Holt/Sam Holt, Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith/Pidge | Katie Holt, Matt Holt & Romelle, Matt Holt/Romelle
Series: Love Somebody AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1624501
Comments: 317
Kudos: 192





	1. The Foot of This Hill

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LuceCiel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuceCiel/gifts).



“Did you hear about PC Kari?”

Keith looked up from his noodles and a social media post from his hometown’s club page, describing and announcing the reopening of the destroyed diner. He and one of his co-workers, his usual case partner, Regris, were sitting in the break room with the fruits of the weekly communal take-away collection pot. 

From the window, the gridway and internet connection centre for Marchanda, Teludav Tower, with its advertising signs, dishes and transmitters stood stark against the horizon, the tallest thing that could be seen over the city from their office view.

Slurping the mouthful he had been halfway through, Keith quickly shot off a like for the memorial wall photo, and a quick comment (‘ _ Looks great Hunk, Dad would have been smug for weeks to if he knew he’d get his photo up—’ll drop by next time I’m on leave! _ ’) for his friend before he shook his head in response to Regris’s question.

“Fentress? He asked, once finished chewing. “No, what about her?” he asked. “Did she and Zeth finally catch the rapist they were looking for?”

“No, she got special leave for a month,” Regris shook his head. “I heard from Zeth about it, because she’s been re-partnered with Tabor. Apparently she and Fentress were following a lead up at city general and Fentress walked into some woman being wheeled about on a gurney; she had her words. Hoktrill Disease.”

“Shit,” Keith blinked his mind connecting with less reluctance now. “Is Fentress okay?” he asked, his concern genuine.

Most of the time he tried to avoid the subject of soulmates; he had avoided his own for this long, and he planned to keep it that way. Anything to keep himself from putting a complete stranger in a situation where they had to beg some kind of mercy from him.

Normal people had decent words and dreamt of meeting their counterparts though, so the topic always came up somewhere. Fentress was in her forties now. She had two kids already, and had lived long enough she’d always shrugged off the question of finding her own. She’d never ruled it out though, and Keith wasn’t so hollow on the subject that he didn’t know how to empathise.

“Not sure. She’s spending time with the girl up at the hospital. Same age as her own kids. Apparently, she can just speak, and the girl is trying to appeal for euthanasia drugs before that goes too,” Regris said. “Zeth was talking about putting together a care package of sorts for them. It’s a thirty credit chip-in. Could you let the Superintendent know?”

Keith nodded, his appetite not entirely lost, but thoughts distracted. He couldn’t imagine how horrible a situation that was to be in. Idly, he wondered what Fentress’s words had been. He’d seen the mark a hundred times or more, but he’s never bothered to look. For one thing it was a rude and and abhorrent invasion of privacy, and for another he’d never been interested.

“Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?” Regris mused between his mouthfuls. “Do you think she knew?”

“What do you mean?” Keith blinked.

“Well some people have really obvious words. Like that guy who knew his soulmate worked in a home decorating store, so he started going around every city for six years until he found them?”

“He was tried as a stalker,” Keith asked. “But I guess I know what you mean. My parents were like that. Sort of. They both knew it was someone in my hometown when his words disappeared almost the next day. All he’d done was go home and help at his parents farm, and and it was the kind of introduction you have in nursery,” he explained. “So, when mum’s disappeared almost straight away too, they knew who was who.”

Hunk’s had been the same. His best friend had found his soulmate, a girl a year lower than them in school, only a few months after his own words had appeared. He and Shay had quickly become bessoted with each other, and married as soon as they could. They had added a baby girl to their family a couple of years back.

“That’s so lucky,” Regris sighed. “My Dad never found his, but my mum did. Like last year. She was one of the kids at a high school she was doing a hover-bike safety course at.”

Keith nodded; he remembered hearing about it; Regris’s mother was coaching the girl through her test, and she would be taking the licencing exam soon. Nothing exciting or extravagant to anyone else, but to the girl, it was a step she’d been struggling with. 

It was a good example of the importance of the soulbond; it helped shoot down the defences of crazed puritans who claimed the only true ones were between romantically inclined partners, and debunked the opposite Purificationist madness at that claimed they were  _ all _ useless at the same time.

“Do you ever wonder about yours?” Regris asked, his eyes going to Keith’s wrist. “I know you don’t like showing them, so I’m not asking, but do you ever think about how it might play out?”

Keith frowned, absently pulling his jacket sleeve a little against his knee to hide the cuff of the fingerless racing gloves he used to cover his words with. “To be honest…” he said finally—he knew Regris well enough now he didn’t think he’d judge him if he knew his words didn’t indicate a normal soul-meet. “…I try not to.”

“How come?” his partner asked, surprise and concern beginning to take shape in his expression, their lunch momentarily forgotten.

Keith took a breath, then pulled down the cuff of the glove, showing the detective the scrawl— **‘ _Please don’t hurt me_ ’**—on his wrist which usually remained carefully blocked from sight. “If meeting my soul mate means they’d have to be in danger for me to find them, I’d rather not meet them at all.”

Regris looked like he wanted to ask more, but thankfully decided not to, instead delving into a conversation on KBP theories, lore, and debate about which character arc the next game in the reboot would be focusing on; Keith suspected it would switch to Tsuyoshi, but Regris was itching for some character development with Isamu.

Before they could get too deep into fan theories, a familiar voice called out from Kolivan’s office. “Hawkins! Keaton!” their Chief Superintendent barked, spying them both through the break-room window from his office door.

He made a beckoning motion with one hand, and after a mournful glance at their takeaway, Keith abandoned his lunch, following Regris and making his way over to whatever news or task the Chief Superintendent had waiting for them.

“There’s an emergency at Voltedge,” he said, once they were close enough to hear. “I need you down there to look over the scene once the firefighters are done with the place. The fire chief has reported the attack was carried out with zaiforge. There are still Purificationists in the area.”

Keith blinked then wordlessly turned around, heading into his own office, picking up his badge, Luxite, and a couple of recharges for the certification-only transformable-weapon, before heading back out. Anything that would be useful. Last time they’d had a direct run-in with Purificationists, it hadn’t ended in their favour because they hadn’t expected it. Hadn’t seen the diversion for what it was. This time, he wouldn’t be tricked so easily.

The Fire of Purification. Years had passed since the bombing of Sal’s, and they were no longer a new radical group without direction or infamy. Now, they were a huge terrorist group who burned off their own words, and used arson bombings to heighten their protests against soul-bond related events and laws, and sent their terror with propaganda videos, built off public frustration and radicalised independent movements that had once been peaceful protest.

“Do we have an idea of the scale of the fire yet?” Regris was asking from his own desk when Keith returned to get the rest of the essential details

“It’s taken over most of the ground floor and main entrance, but other than that we haven’t received any concrete information on it yet.”

“Any sightings?” he asked, pulling on a brown leather jacket that had made its way to Regris’s desk while they were looking over some background checks of the fingerprints from their last crime scene ( a different arson job from the same group). 

Keith hadn’t precisely planned to focus on the terror gang that had been responsible for the fire that rocked the foundations of his home and childhood, but somehow, that was what had happened. He had gone through police training, furthered it with specialised training and somehow he’d ended up here, in the central office tasked with stopping their burning sprees.

“None that have been recorded by the officers on scene, though I trust I don’t have to tell you the significance of zaiforge being used,” he added. “Take Zethrid and Tabor with you. And Keith?”

Keith flinched, recognising the warning tone and tired patience in his superior’s voice.

“Don’t lose your temper. I know this is always personal for you, but you miss things when you’re riled up. You’re your own worst enemy like that. Stay calm. Keep a clear head.”

Keith wanted to retort, but the words were a true warning, and he knew Kolivan meant no malice in them.

With as much of the information as he needed for the moment—he could get the rest from the firemen on scene or from Kolivan over the comms as more information came through—he and Regris recruited the other two detectives to the journey, and after a brief stop to find his bike, left the station.

* * *

More data came in enroute to the scene of the blaze, and none of it good. Kolivan had got the live footage from street CCTV downloaded from the city network, as well as updates from the fire chief, and it was worse than initially thought.

The blaze was massive; a beating banner of the chaos it had incited when they arrived on the scene. After finding a space for his bike, Keith had to work harder than normal to ignore the heat—eerily reminiscent of a burning small-town diner—as he felt it rage at least a hundred metres away.

The fire teams were working non-stop, and alongside the first couple of levels, there were at least three or four floors, if not more, consumed by the flames. In the car behind them, Kosmo (who had got out of his pen,  _ again _ , and once more followed the other dog handlers without notice) and a couple of the search dogs whined, looking around at all the hubbub and panic.

“They’re getting more aggressive,” Zethrid grumbled, staring with her own shock up at the flames billowing from the windows before turning and opening the hatch for the dog cages. “They haven’t made an attack of this scale for a few years.”

“No, but they’ve been building up to it, we were just expecting a non-civilian target from our information and leads,” Regris mumbled helping her fit a couple of protection vests to the dogs. “How are we proceeding?” he asked, putting a charge into his basic stunner.

“Right now, aside from investigation, we need to secure the area against any more attacks from lingering Purificationists. When’s NCD back-up due?” Keith said, letting his own furred companion jump down once he’d been fitted with some extra protective gear.

“Ten minutes, the fire department is working on crowd control with local officers,” Tabor said.

“Okay, until then Tabor, check in with the fire teams, find out if they know of any other detonators being involved besides zaiforge. Get any witness statements if you can,” Keith said, putting his earpiece onto their group setting. “Zethrid, Regris, I want you and your teams to take the north and south buildings; initial reports and camera footage says there are more zaiforge detonators being launched from them.”

Kosmo sat patiently as Keith double checked he had his charges and few other tools, and slipped his Luxite into its holster. “I’ll take my team and check the south buildings. Keep your comms open. Let’s go.”

And so, they all headed off. Keith waved an arm to the unit that would be following him into the building to the south, and he could hear Zethrid yelling at her own team. Focusing on the job at hand, he left the three detectives to their tasks.

“Take the south buildings from the west and northern entrances!” He called out. “Stay aware of any suspicious activity, and be on the look-out for traps; there could be detonators planted in the surrounding buildings.”

They all threw themselves into the work, and long work it was. As the fire teams got the blaze under control, medics started to arrive, along with the back up forces to help sweep the surrounding buildings, control the traffic and assist in the management of the attack.

Altogether Keith and his team managed to round up twelve to thirteen of the remaining Purificationists through their varying units; several managed to bolt though. The reports had been correct about them being in the opposite buildings. They were crawling with them. By the time they had cleared the area, it was twenty past midnight.

With one such cultist cuffed and being led by the man who had caught him, and Kosmo trotting at his heels, Keith led his team past all the jammed-up traffic from the gridway blocks, before they headed around the corner, past the digital ticker tape and back towards the security vans.

“Are we sure this guy is the last one?” he asked into his comms.

‘ _ Affirmative, _ ’ Zethrid called back. ‘ _ Tabor’s team just finished clearing his building, and Regris and I completed our sweeps. The area is officially secure. _ ’

“Alright,” he replied, his team heading out of an alley and through the congested traffic, ducking between cars and vans and a few motorcyclists on their way back towards the hub of emergency vehicles. “We’ve finished up on my end too. South side is good.”

‘ _ Should we give the forensics teams the all clear? _ ’ 

Keith dropped his communications as the man in their custody started struggling violently, flinging one of the men holding him against a car to try and throw him off.

“Stun him!” Keith barked, shouting over Kosmo’s own excited jumps and howls, trying not to sound as irritated as he felt after the long night. Once he was secured, he turned back to his comms. “Tell them to get inside as soon as they can,” he said, watching as the team dragged the man further through the traffic. 

Kosmo paused his excitement for a moment as he sat watching the traffic, before predictably hollering with all his half-husky dramatics at the stationary cars just as Keith spoke into his earpiece again. “Good work guys,” he said loudly, making a shushing gesture at his loyal but excited dog. “I think we can hand off to the relief teams now. Out.”

Looking around at the congestion, he scratched Kosmo’s ears affectionately, rewarding him for all his work following explosive scents; he wasn't  _ officially _ a sniffer dog, but Keith had long since started trying to make use of his appearances on crime scenes instead of wondering how they happened.

One of the kennel handlers had been giving them a little training on weekends. At the very least, it was less hassle when he got out of his pen, and had made the task of tracking the lingering cultists down much easier than it could have been. 

He had more than earned some special scratches, and maybe one of the marrowbones Keith got him from the butcher’s today, if only to make up for the fact that once again, they were going back to the station instead of home.

Cutting off the communicator, Keith scratched Kosmo’s ears again. “Come on buddy,” he said. “Let’s get you back to bed, then I can get back to work.”

The  Balmeran-shepherd-Altean-husky -mix barked cheerfully, and with a half laugh, Keith let him lead him back to the canine unit; work finished until he got back to the station, he had one though pressing in his mind as they made their way through the stagnant cars.

Where the _hell_ had he parked his hoverbike?

* * *

Part 2 is up and away!

No horrendous tags for this story just yet, but the themes I mentioned are still there, so please check the series notes for content warnings! Most of them don't apply here... I think? But I put them in the series notes bc I just want to blanket everything just in case, so again, READ THOSE. They are there for _your_ benefit, not mine.

I know whats coming ~~and I'm still recovering.~~

I will be posing another story that mirrors this one tomorrow; that will be Katie's POV. You can wait to read that if you want to until this story is complete, or read them both as they are posted. Each are multiple chapters in length, and have been written to be standalones and companion fics to each other, so its your choice!

Let get this show on the road.

Enjoy! x


	2. So One Man Has

Keith had been sent messages from his mother asking not to overwork himself after apparently seeing him on the news with Kolivan when the reporters were asking the Chief Superintendent about their initial suspicions regarding the Voltedge attack.

He promised her he’d take care of himself and do the essentials. Like eat. Shower. Sleep. He did not tell her he had a supply of fresh clothes in his training room locker, had spent many nights sleeping on the break room sofa, and was more than content to live off takeaway (and concentrated caffeine energy shots purchased from the training gym vending machine) where Purificationists were concerned.

The scene had been a nightmare of smoke and chaos and, once, the unmistakable burned beef-hair-plastic scent of burning flesh and coagulated blood as one of the victims had passed him in the paramedic body bag.

Twelve hours, three capsules of energy shots, too much coffee, and one burger later, and the taste of it was still lingering unpleasantly in his mouth as he sat and poured over images and video footage from the CCTV, trying to find some rhyme and reason to the latest attack. 

There had been a few small ones throughout the city in recent months, but they had been from sympathisers, individuals. Not the cult itself. What little that had been caused by the main terrorist group had been quiet. Reports had come in from other places across the country, and abroad, but even those attacks hadn’t been major. 

There had to have been signs of the planning for this  _ somewhere _ , but it had been completely missed. How? Zaiforge had been used and that alone would have made it possible to track; how had they missed something on a scale like this?

The ingredients—things like Red Syntian Nitrate, Xanthorium, and Heximite—were hard to get a hold of, and it needed to be made in lab conditions. It was a gel-like substance that stuck to everything, and wouldn’t be doused with water or foam extinguishers. It didn’t explode but it did spread easily, becoming a thin running burning liquid as it got hotter. It had to be neutralised with specialised gases before heavy duty foams could be used to quell its flames. 

Police had tracked shipments of the chemicals used to make it several times in the past to successfully locate part of the smuggling routes used by the Purificationists, and stopped attacks from happening that way before. Had the Purificationists opened a new cartel? Or had their supply been stockpiled somewhere?

All questions that had to be answered. At least this time it had been identified quickly, and the fire teams had been able to respond with the materials they needed to. They had a body count now up at eleven as of the morning news, which while still a significant civilian loss, was far better than the numbers from previous incidents, some of which numbered in the hundreds.

Keith was hoping that they could track down potential base points by following CCTV footage of the cars used in the attacks, but so far, they hadn't been able to identify any as suspicious.

He had, however, identified one woman in the foyer of Voltedge early in the morning. She had short green hair, and an almost unhealthily skinny body. She had entered the building and spoken to the people at the reception desk, then gone into the public toilets on the next floor. 

She’d had access to the building. Not much, but enough to get the explosives planted on the first few levels. After emerging she’d checked something on her phone for a while, then tapped something. The cameras had just caught the start of the blast before being destroyed.

“Sir?” 

Her name was Twyla Yama, and before the explosion, she had been one of the middle-ranked cult members. She hadn’t used a different name like many of the other senior cultists did but she still wasn’t low enough in the cult hierarchy to be classed as fodder, so while her presence had already been unusual, her role in the scenario had been even more of a surprise.

She had enough value in the cult that she ought not to have been caught up in the fire itself. The job of planting and detonating the zaiforge bombs usually fell to lower, easily replaceable members, not someone who had been involved with the management of their smuggling cartels

“Keith!” 

Keith looked up and Zethrid held up a paper bag that smelled like it came from the tagine oven place across from the station, and a large takeaway cup of coffee. He also noted that she had a data drive tucked under one arm; had he ordered food?

“Kolivan found out you’d been here all night again and was worried you were going to get an addiction to your desktop and energy shots,” she explained. “I went over to get something for the girls in forensics and he told me to get your usual.”

She put the wrapped bag down on his desk along with the coffee cup, then held up the data drive. “I’ve also got this,” she said holding it out. “It’s got all the results of last night’s forensic evidence from the scene that the teams were able to get once the fire teams cleared them. Ezor got it finished off just now; she said to apologise for the delay. It would have been quicker, but Romelle hasn't turned up for her shift yet.”

Romelle hadn’t turned up? That was weird. She was usually in bright and early, or tended to sleep in the lab overnight. Though she had been late a few times this month, and missed a couple of shifts. She’d mentioned a couple of doctors appointments in the academy and office group chats too.

“She was on night shift last night, wasn’t she?” Keith asked, lifting the lid on the coffee; pure black, not a hint of milk in sight. Good. “She’s probably still asleep. I know she did a few preliminaries on the bodies pulled from the foyer. We’re all run ragged right now. I haven’t seen Kolivan this stressed up since your serial–acid–attack first started making rounds.”

They looked through the window towards Kolivan’s office window, where he was speaking on the phone. Very Rapidly. 

Zethrid shuddered, and headed for the door. “Tabor and I are going to start running through eyewitness statements and interviews with the staff, see if we can find anything,” she said. “Want me to keep you in the loop?”

“Please, if there’s anyone from the first few floors who remembers Yama that’d be very helpful,” he said, pulling the slow-cooked lamb and veg couscous bowl from the bag and bringing up the videos Regris had sent again.

“We’ll see what we can find,” she promised.

She slipped out the door and Keith watched her head back towards the desk she was sharing with Tabor as he dug out the bamboo fork from the lid of the food bowl. Kolivan was now leaving his office too, looking a little more on edge than he had before the call.

Grabbing a mouthful of the lamb, he turned back to his screen. If he compared this incident to previous attacks it was, to be honest, a weird one; it was completely different to the Purification cult’s usual modus operandi. 

Sendak, one of their new leaders (or Jake Yurak as his criminal record identified him), was much more efficient in his management since the days when a straggling member had upended the lives of everyone in Keith’s hometown. While attacks like this still happened, Sendak’s targets were usually less commercial. And why, of all the companies in the city, had he gone for  _ Voltedge? _ It didn't make sense. 

It wasn’t exactly a name associated with hard-line soulbond puritans, so it hardly offended the Purificationist ideology. You could maybe suggest that the attack was because Samuel Holt was the brain behind most zaiforge neutralising tech, but that had been around for years now. Why wait so long? 

Not to mention, Voltedge was state-of the art, high-tech security development company; just getting  _ in _ to scope the place out would have been difficult. The team didn’t have any employee data yet, but Yama must have been working there for months. A decently ranked cult member working undercover for months, just to get the zaiforge bomb planted in the first place?

That was much more suspicious than it was trying to seem. Then there was the visual aspect of the whole thing. 

This attack was so... brazen. It was open, right in the middle of the day, when security was high, when the other members who had been firing more phosphorous grenades onto the other floors from the surrounding buildings had been easy to spot.

It was like they had wanted to be seen, but no propaganda message had been released. They hadn't even claimed responsibility for the attack as they normally did. It was straight up weird, and Keith knew there was something missing.

Taking another bite of the couscous and veg, Keith turned his eyes away from the different camera images on the screen, highlighting several things including Yama’s face, a glimpse of the attackers in the opposite building from one of the upper level offices, and several others views, including the relatively undamaged south-facing entrance and car park.

Maybe he’d be better off going through eye-witness testimony with Tabor and Zeth. Or he could tackle the forensics that she had brought up. Regris was already working on the camera footage.

After a few more mouthfuls, and a scalding glug of the coffee, he decided on the forensics. He’d come back to the CCTV later. Once Regris had the full footage from each one of the few surviving cameras that had caught the incident. For now, he’d look elsewhere in the hopes that something would make sense. 

He had finished his food and linked the signal from the data drive to his desktop when he watched Kolivan reappear, this time with company; he was followed by a blonde woman in her late fifties, a sandy-haired man around his age, and… wait, was that Romelle? And who was the man in the suit?

They disappeared into his office for a while, and Keith turned back to the files he’d been going through from Ezor. It was mostly information on the victims—unpleasant but unfortunately not his first time seeing this kind of horror when dealing with a criminal cult that used fire as its main weapon. 

He’d lost track of how many charred bodies he’d seen in the morgue talking to forensics, or on scene, when the scent of burned skin bone and hair nauseated the air. about the only way to deal with them was to desensitise himself to them. 

He didn’t think about their names too much, and tried not to let himself connect with any victims living or dead. It was the only way to stay sane and try to do his job, and stop this kind of thing happening in the first place.

There was some information on the bombs used at least; it had definitely been zaiforge that had been used. The traces Romelle had taken from the scene were unmistakable. There hadn’t really been much doubt in that, but it was good to know for certain. 

They needed to interview the cultists who had been apprehended the previous night from the surrounding buildings too. It was still so early in the information process that there wasn’t that much to go on yet.

As he started to yawn, and wondered if the effects of caffeine had fizzled out already, Kolivan’s head poked out of his office door, and he looked through his own open door at him. “Hawkins!” he called out, his bark a little rough around the edges from his own lack of sleep.

Picking up his jacket and badge from the desk, just in case, Keith shut down his desktop, and followed the Kolivan’s summons. Through the window he finally recognised the older woman from one of the casefiles—Colleen Holt. Why was Colleen Holt here? 

“You called?” he asked, stepping into the room, closing the door behind him.

“I did,” Kolivan said, going to the blinds to shut out the rest of the floor. His eyes fell on Keith’s hands and he frowned on sight of the scrappy racing gloves.

Keith quickly hid them behind his back, his eyes focusing back on the other three people in the room. “Keith, this is Mr Takashi Shirogane,” Kolivan introduced them. “Mrs Colleen Holt, and her son Matthew.” he paused. “And you know Romelle, but she is here in a civilian capacity today,” he said, his voice pointing and his eyes directly on the woman as he said ‘ _ civilian capacity _ ’. Going by the glare she shot back Romelle wasn’t too pleased with the unspoken order.

Keith quickly looked away from the silent argument. “How do you do,” he said instead, politely holding out his hand to each of the three strangers. 

“This is Detective Chief Inspector Keith Hawkins,” Kolivan introduced him to them. “He’s the head of our Purificationist taskforce,” he explained before sitting back down beside his desk. “I’d like to get him up to speed on what you’ve told me so far before we proceed any further.”

The Chief Superintendent’s eyes flicked towards him. “I assume you’re already familiar with the early details of the case?” Kolivan asked as he fiddled with the connection settings on his desktop.

“We haven’t had a chance to interview the cultists who were shooting into the building from last night yet but I’ve seen the early forensics and CCTV footage.”Keith paused. “I’m assuming something else has happened? Have the Purificationists finally claimed responsibility?” he asked. 

He didn’t know why Mrs Holt and her son would be here for that though—or why Romelle would be in the precinct as a civilian—looking like they’d slept even less than Keith had. He knew they would be involved since the family owned the company, but not with his part of the investigation unless they were suspected of purificationist involvement. Which they weren't. So far. 

He’d be stupid to write off the possibility  _ too _ early.

“Not exactly,” Kolivan said, his voice sounding tired. “But I expect we’ll be hearing from him soon. Colleen, Matthew,” he spoke to the mother and son. “If you don’t mind repeating what you told me to DCI Hawkins?” he asked, his voice a little softer, more encouraging.

The woman nodded, taking a breath. “I-I’ll just be as brief as I can,” she said; Keith nodded, finding a seat on a spare chair. Once he’d sat down again, she started, her fingers tight in her son’s as she spoke.

“I got the call about the fire yesterday afternoon,” she began. “After I spoke to Sam—my husband—I tried phoning Matt and Katie to check in on them. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t get any answers until late last night. I got a call-back from Matt at the hospital.”

Keith nodded, not wanting to interrupt her yet. 

“I had already met my husband at the airport, and while I had yet to hear from my daughter or her bodyguard, I put it down to the chaos. I was hopeful that she was alright, since her office was at the back of the building, which escaped most of the damage, she also wasn't listed as any of the injured or dead at the hospital. Then this morning…” 

She looked over to her son and he handed Kolivan his phone before taking over the conversation, hand tight in Romelle’s as––wait, was he the mystery husband he’d never got around to meeting?–he spoke.

“I tried calling my sister a few times after I was released from the hospital, but didn’t get any response until late this morning when we were turning in,” he said, pointing to the email now being shared to Kolivan’s desktop. “I got this from her bodyguard at about half two,”

Keith almost raised an eyebrow—bodyguard? For the sister but not the son? Or was that the big hulking guy with the prosthetic arm?—but kept his face calm as he looked at the message on the computer screen.

> _ Matt, _
> 
> _ Sorry it took so long to get back in touch. It’s been a hectic day, but now that the chaos is over, I finally had time to get in contact with you. _
> 
> _ As you can see, your sister made it out of the fire alive and unharmed. Please be sure to pass this on to your mother and father—I’d hate for them to think I’d neglected my responsibility for her safety while she was in my care. _

The email was interrupted by a pair of images. The first was the view from a car window, the image showing the fading scene of the flame riddled Voltedge building; who ever had taken the photo had included their arm, with an  _ ‘okay’ _ gesture, like the sight was some kind of five course meal, or an admirable view. 

The second was a picture of a young woman in jeans and a purple and white pull-over hoodie with buttons on the shoulders. She was clearly unconscious, bound and gagged on the floor of a narrow-looking van. The picture had been taken from the side, so there was no glimpse of the number plate in sight.

As he read the rest of the message, Keith realised why the footage, the planning, the seemingly brazen attack on the building had been so strange compared to others; it hadn’t been a political attack at all.

> _ Your father didn’t believe our warnings. We told him that we would destroy his company first, then his family, if he didn’t listen to our requests.  _
> 
> _ Despite the lack of co-operation on his part, we are still willing to negotiate, and will be in touch soon to discuss his options.  _
> 
> _ Be sure he’s available for them. _
> 
> _ Bogh. _

It had been a diversion, and it had worked.

* * *

The new information that turned the arson attack into a Kidnapping helped the current levels of evidence make more sense, and then opened a thousand more, and complicated the investigation instantly.

“She  _ had _ to have been taken out the back,” Regris muttered as he and Keith sat in the media analysis lab, going through the footage together. Two sets of eyes were better than one, supposedly. “There was no other way  _ to _ go...”

For all the extra eyes, they still hadn’t seen anything that looked like it could be part of a kidnapping scheme. The cameras at the back of the building had been lower on the list of priority before, but now they had shot up. Mrs Holt had confirmed that her daughter’s office and lab were at the back of the building, so her abductor would have taken one of the escape routes there in the chaos.

If the fire really had been a combined statement and diversion, it was the only safe route to take, and it would have been pre-emptive. Bogh—the bodyguard—would have been given a signal on the attack in order to get out safely. 

That was why Twyla had been the one detonating the charges. Their timing had to be perfect, and that kind of job was presumably too important to leave to a minion, worth sacrificing a more valued member.

Only they couldn’t see anything of the sort on the cameras at all. 

“How long was Yama working for the Holts? Do we know that?” Regris asked, staring at the screen like one would watch a wall as paint dried.

“We haven’t got her employee records yet,” Keith said, hanging his head back and rubbing his eyes. “I think Zeth is chasing it up. I’ll talk to Mr Holt about it, after Kolivan’s done going through the contact protocols with him.” 

“Okay. Hold the fort while I run to the toilet?” the detective asked.

Keith nodded, his mind drifting, and Regris left him to his musings and the silence of the media room. 

For someone who had gone to the trouble of hiring a full-on bodyguard for his child, Samuel Holt hadn’t seemed to be very worried about the fact that she had been kidnapped by pyromaniacal terrorists to Keith. It had taken him another two hours after his wife and son to get to the station.

Though maybe that wasn’t a fair judgement of the man, given the circumstances. He also had a smoking ruin of a company headquarters to pay attention to, as well as now-eleven dead employees and at least ten more in hospital, all as a result of a diversion made by said terrorists just so they  _ could _ kidnap his daughter.

That was kind of rough, but still. When ransom messages indicated time-constraints, it wasn't generally the done thing to push the people making them, no matter who they were. Luckily the Purificationists hadn’t tried to make contact with anyone yet, but that was another part of the problem. 

What if they tried to contact Mr Holt by himself, while he was away from the station? What if they contacted his son—which was likely too, as he’d been the first to receive the initial ransom message for his sister—and he wasn’t here when they wanted to make their demands out? 

A lot of things would ride on the negotiations, not least his daughter’s safety. The sitting around and waiting for a call was always the hardest part, though, and it meant they’d had time to get signal tech set up in preparation for its arrival. Regris had already mentioned what roadblocks he was expecting, including a VPN, bouncing and other things that Keith had a rather limited understanding of, but if the purificationists contacted Mr Holt without Police support, they wouldn’t even get a  _ chance _ to trace the call.

The scale of the investigation had bloomed in size overnight; once he’d realised how many different people would be involved, and how much space they were going to need, Kolivan had evicted the drugs squad from their usual rooms so that the Purificationist investigation teams had a full floor to themselves.

Lost in his thoughts, and completely zoned out instead of watching the footage, Keith didn’t hear Romelle’s light footsteps coming into the room.

“Anything?” she asked, nearly starting him out of his chair in surprise

“I thought Kolivan had you pulled off active duty?” he said, a little grumpy as the blonde woman sat down beside him on another chair.

“Matt got a call from the company PR team,” she sighed. “Colleen and Sam are in with Kolivan. I’m going to go crazy if I sit and watch everything going on without helping so I thought I'd grab some of Katie's things from her penthouse to make a scent profile for the sniffer dog teams. They're checking the building and the nearby area. It's a long shot but...”

But it felt more productive than sitting around and waiting for camera images. Keith couldn't blame her, but he also knew Kolivan would flip his shit if he saw her in the media room.

“I should throw you out on principle,” Keith sighed, sinking lower into an extremely unhealthy position his back would regret in ten years’ time—also, _ penthouse? _ —but felt extremely comfortable right then. “But, you can hide here, if you buy Kosmo treats.”

She smiled warmly. “Thanks Keith,” she grinned; Keith made a face.

“Are you okay?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. It was probably a stupid question, but considering Romelle coped with stress the same way he did (over use of blunt sarcasm, and too much coffee), he felt compelled to ask with the sound of the formality.

“Oh, I’m  _ peachy _ ,” she snorted, pulling her knees up to her chest, trainers sitting on the edge of the seat as she chewed her bottom lip. “My husband got caught in an arson attack, now my sister-in-law has been kidnapped by the same psychos, and I can't do anything except watch people cry because Kolivan put me on forced leave!” She huffed, muttering the rest to herself. “It’s like he thinks I’m an invalid already…”

There it was. Romelle didn't want to bitch about Kolivan at all (and Kolivan was probably right to put her on leave—she was too close to this case). She was just angry, stressed, and probably scared, with too much understanding and no way to vent.

Rather than call her out, Keith listened. It was kind of part of the investigation, but really, he was kind of intrigued, and wanted to offer an ear for her if he could. Romelle had joined the station at the same time he had, and she’d always had one for him.

“I always wondered why you never talked about Matthew much,” he mused. “Guess I know now. How did you meet him again?”he asked, not wanting to guess and get it wrong.

“Katie,” Romelle sighed, resting her chin on her knees, staring at the videos blaring across the screens of the media room. “She went to my uni and we shared a Drule class; she took him to the cafe where I was working and I had to jump in and take over the tills for my supervisor. I read the price off, he dropped his coffee and threw his arms up and yelled ‘ _ Finally! _ ’ in front of the whole cafe.”

Keith couldn’t help snorting. “That’s cute,” he grinned. “He sounds like a dork.”

He made his judgement based on numerous stories from his friend about finding her now-husband in all manner of ridiculous situations, his addiction to conspiracy theories, and pick-up lines that wouldn't be amiss coming from Lance, one of the trained shooters in the first response unit. 

He’d been sent to the other side of the country when they got married, and somehow had never managed to meet Matthew, but Romelle had always seemed happy, so it hadn’t bothered him much. Now, he wished he’d had a chance to meet him under better circumstances.

“Yeah, he is,” she smiled wearily. “It’s weird; you hear all these statistics on how people meet their soulmates on documentaries and the news, but I never thought about being one till it happened to me; I wouldn’t have met him if I hadn’t shared desks with her or been working at the coffee shop.”

She watched the screens listlessly. “Did they tell you how she ended up with Shiro and Bogh following her around?” she asked him.

Keith frowned, and nodded. Going by Mrs Holt’s explanations of the matter, there was a cruel kind of irony in the whole thing; Katie Holt had been given words that implied that part of her life would involve an unknown kind of danger, and her parents had put all their money into protecting her from that. 

The best security in her home, around the office she used, and a bodyguard following her every move since her sixteenth birthday, only for him to be the one to take her away right beneath their noses.

While knowing the words would have been helpful, they were private, and since Katie was an adult, even her family couldn’t reveal them without breaking the law; it was one of the stupid complicating laws that made life a thousand times harder. Access to the Soulmark would make a lot of cases infinitely easier, but fear of bias kept them from access below the NCD and FCD. 

If fate was trying to be funny, Keith didn't think he wanted to see what would happen if it decided to be cruel.

“You know it doesn't always work out that way,” he said gently. “Fun part of our job is getting disillusioned to that kind of fantasy.”

“I know,” Romelle sighed, her head leaning on his shoulder. “I don’t know how to tell them that. They’re hoping someone’s got her words but... I know it's ridiculous, but I think I’d rather believe it myself, for once.”

Keith put an arm around his friend’s shoulders. He could understand why she didn’t want to talk to her husband or in-laws about this. Romelle was a coroner and forensic scientist. She saw what happened to people who trusted fate too much far more intimately than he did.

Now her sister-in-law had been abducted by a criminal group not exactly known for its mercy. They had already burned people alive, who had stood against them, for less.

Even if her soulmate was amongst the Purificationists, there was no guarantee they would help her; in fact, that idea was twice as bad. 

Words didn’t automatically make someone love another, or even care, and if the words were on someone else’s wrist as the Holts hoped, how was anyone supposed to find her if the police and her family didn’t even know where she was?

Keith didn't know what those words were, but if they were anywhere near as bad as his own, or as bad as her family indicated, then felt himself empathising a little with her on that particular front.

Fate had clearly been running out of good ideas when their words were formed.

“And that’s why you’re on forced leave,” he said.

Romelle frowned, her expression taking a new wave of irritation. “It’s nothing to do with that! Kolivan is just paranoid because I-”

Both their phones went off with message alert pings. She had hers open the fastest, and the paling colour of her skin told Keith he didn’t need to open his own as she checked it.

“It’s the call,” she said.

The conversation paused, and they quickly headed back up the stairs to the control room; it was full of people, and Keith could already see Regris sitting at the computer opposite Mr and Mrs Holt. A screen had been set up in front of them. The sound of a phone ringing echoed from the speakers, and on the other side stood Matthew.

Romelle made her way round to him, and Keith stood next to Kolivan, out of shot from the cameras as he turned on his earpiece, but still close enough to see the screen itself without being seen on the other end.

Kolivan looked for checks from a few others before he put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “We’re ready Mr Holt.”

The greying man looked like he was going to be sick, and as he connected his earpiece into the signals which would allow him to hear the call directly, and Keith silently took back his previous harsh judgement as Mr Holt’s fingers froze over the screen, before he tapped the button to accept the unknown call.

The screen filled with a picture of a blank room, without any significant features. It looked like an old office, or an empty building. White walls and a few columns, but aside from the hard-faced man in front of the camera, it was almost entirely empty and void of identifying features.

‘ _ Mr Holt, _ ’ Sendak said, his voice soft and pleased. ‘ _ I’m glad you decided to take my last warning more seriously. _ ’

“Who are you?” Mr Holt asked, his voice a bit shaky, but otherwise holding well. “What have you done with my daughter?”

‘ _ My popular name is Sendak, _ ’ the man said. ‘ _ I’m sure your police companions can tell you more about my accomplishments; as for your daughter, let’s talk first. Then, once you understand my requests, you can see her, _ ’ he said.

“I’m not discussing anything with you until we see that Katie is unharmed,” Mr Holt said; Kolivan had probably told him to try and establish proof of life first.

Sendak looked irritated, but he didn't seem too surprised. ‘ _ Very well. _ ’

Looking at someone off camera, there was a sound of footsteps, then a door being opened. A few moments later the footsteps returned; the sound of muffled struggling came with them. After a few moments the camera turned, and it fell on the brown-haired woman from the ransom photo.

She was tied up, blindfolded, held upright in the chair she had been seated in by some loose restraints Bogh assed, and there was a plaster of some kind on her forehead. She looked tired, exhausted. She tugged at her restraints, but had very little energy in her movements. She seemed almost sick, if he had to put a word on it, but that was warranted if she’d spent the past day and night tied up on the floor of a van. 

Sendak entered the frame again, standing behind the chair and taking a calm hold of her chin, and with a deliberate kind of manhandled petting, turned her face towards the camera. At first, she recoiled, and tried to pull her face from his grip, then he slowly tugged down the blindfold, and at first, she scrunched her eyes, wincing from the light.

“Katie! Katie, honey can you hear me?” Her mother called out, after her initial recoil and shock had passed.

It seemed to break her daughter from her haze; the woman’s eyes widened in recognition as they finally settled on the screen, and she began to struggle, trying to get closer. 

‘ _ As you can see, _ ’ Sendak said over the muffled cries from his captive, a hand placed on her shoulder. ‘ _ She is alive and unharmed, _ ’

“Unharmed? Bullshit!” her father roared. “What have you done to her? She’s injured! And barely conscious!”

‘ _ It appears she didn’t take well to the sedation. She just needs some time to shake it off. She also has a small concussion from her travels—an accident, I assure you, _ ’ he added, pulling her hair back with his free hand to show them the small gauze plaster a little more clearly. ‘ _ As long as you’re willing to co-operate Mr Holt, she’ll be well cared for. _ ’ 

The camera turned away from their hostage, and the man’s expression became less patient. ‘ _Now,_ _shall we begin?_ ’

* * *

And so we're off on the road to hell. Next is Katies POV if anyone's reading that :) ~~I didn't think this chapter needed a TLDR but if anyone thinks its necessary let me know~~

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! 


	3. All My Trust

“These plans Sendak mentioned, you already know what they are?” 

Keith asked the question to Mr Holt, copy-pasting a picture from a web search into the suspect section on the digital tracking boards that had been sent up to them from the lower floors, his demeanour pensive as he tried to keep the call’s aftermath and ending from his mind.

Sendak had made his threatening points extra memorable by holding Katie up by her neck, dangerously close to suffocating her before Bogh had taken her from the room. After she had disappeared from the screen, the outlines for the blueprints sendak wanted had been given, and in moments it was over. 

Ten minutes was all it had been, and the information gathered so far was already concerning in how much it was lacking. 

It _looked_ like a lot, but was mostly basic information, and mostly surrounding Katie herself; several more boards in the room had detailed lists, including a small one of locations, beside another board which was set up for a timeline. Another had two pictures held to the screens; Katie Holt, and her former bodyguard, Bogh Torseth. It listed their last known location, and personal details. Height, weight, hair, eye colour, clothing, their Soulbond status, and last known contact. 

The final one listed the known Purificationists involved in the attack, and the kidnapping, including the suspected leader, Jake Yurak. Sendak.

Of all the people who could have been organising the kidnapping, Keith would never have expected Sendak to actually make a show on camera. He doubted Kolivan had either. At first, they had only suspected it was on his orders, attack and abduction both conducted several tiers below his spot in the cult hierarchy; they had been very, very wrong. 

On the one hand, it helped to know who they were working with, but on the other, knowing it was Sendak was far from ideal. If it had been a group of lower, mid-tier followers, or someone lower in the chain of command, that had taken Katie… 

Well, with Sendak involved, it just meant that things had become much, _much_ harder. 

His reputation was, fair to say, unpleasant. He organised the cult, had planned many of the vicious attacks that had popped up in recent years, handed down orders, made propaganda videos, and was suspected to be increasing the cult’s range into the other countries.

He rarely involved himself in the day to day grunt work of the group. He was one of the biggest names in the Purificationist cult, so sightings of him in public were rare. He tended to keep out of sight unless something big was happening.

While a fire of the scale that had consumed Voltedge was a big attack, it was still just a smokescreen for this kidnapping. But not big enough; while a kidnapping by the group wasn’t completely unusual, Keith still hadn’t understood what interest Sendak would have in targeting Samuel Holt’s daughter.

He’d wondered if it was money, but even that wasn’t something that the cult had much problem getting hold of, and from a social viewpoint, there was no reason to target the Holt family. 

Mr Holt might have made himself a lot of money, but he was not involved in politics, and had no influence there, and if Sendak had wanted to punish him for the developing zaiforge neutralisation devices now equipped to emergency services, why hadn’t he made an attack when the tech was first put into use?

‘ _I want your designs for the zaiforge neutralisers, repurposed as per my original requests._ ’

It made no sense. If he was trying to make an example of the Holts, then killing Katie was the more realistic choice, not kidnapping her. Bogh’s email had been cryptic enough that the why had remained a mystery until the call, and Keith had struggled to come up with even a guess as to why the cult would particularly target the Holts.

Then he’d heard Sendak talking about plans for adapted neutralisers, weapons plans, and then, things started to make a lot more sense.

“Yes,” the man said, still visibly pale, and shaken from the video himself. “Though up till now I didn’t realise they were sent by him. The company looked and sounded legitimate.”

Romelle had left the room following her husband and mother-in-law after it ended. Both of them had been understandably distraught after the call, Mr Holt was too, but as he was the main focus of Sendak’s scheme, they needed to know everything he could possibly tell them.

“So, he did approach you?” Kolivan asked. “How? And why didn’t you mention it before? Alert the authorities?”

“I didn’t think it was… At first their requests were reasonable, and it was a company that had the money for a private contract. They wanted to adapt the design for use with farming chemicals; fertilisers and pesticides,” Mr Holt stressed, unlocking the datapad on the table before him and connecting it to the digital evidence boards (and their datapads).

“Then they started requesting things like the technology being left private, which is against our policies. Not to mention the adaptations were growing further and further away from farming use.” He pulled up the emails themselves, sharing them. “When they started making threats I didn’t think they’d amount to anything serious; it just sounded like a standard complaint for when these things don't go the way people want them to,” he explained. “As far as I knew, that was the end of it… then…

“The fire happened,” Keith said, turning away from the boards. They weren’t going to tell him anything new; instead, he pulled up the copy of the email that had been dropped onto his own datapad.

They started out talking about making him regret his decision to cancel the contract, that it would have a poor effect on the Voltedge reputation to turn away a client halfway through the negotiation and development process. Then they started to turn nasty. 

Not outright threatening arson and kidnapping, but slurs were used about Katie and Matthew alike, and the writer indeed promised retribution, but the only line of reference was ‘ _You’ll be sorry for this!_ ’ which in the context of the slander and accusations hardly sounded threatening. It just came across as petty, but that was part of the ruse. The facepaint of the letter wasn't what was important, but the undertones that had only become apparent with cruel hindsight, and gone unnoticed.

“It was just your daughter who had a bodyguard Mr Holt?” he double checked. He’d heard the story about her words being the concerning kind, but he also wanted to be sure he hadn’t dropped a detail somewhere. “Your son Matthew? He never had any protection detail?”

“No,” the man shook his head. “Just Katie, her words were… not optimistic, and we were worried. We hoped it would just be something circumstantial, and all for naught, but we didn't want to take the risk.”

Keith nodded. He wondered too from this if Matthew had once been a potential target; it would have been easier to take the son, really. Katie had more home security, office security, not to mention another bodyguard who like Bogh, had access her apartment. Getting her alone had taken a lot more work than taking Matthew would have, so why pick her? 

Granted, the fact that she had a bodyguard at all was a sign that she was perceived to be the more vulnerable of the two siblings. That automatically would make heart-strings tug if she was taken. But the cult had still spent a long time worming Bogh into her life, and he wasn’t sure it was entirely down to her being younger, or easier to take, because she _wouldn’t_ have been.

If Matthew had been a target, it might be wise to put him under guard, or give the family a safehouse for the duration of the investigation (if they wanted it). Just in case Sendak decided that one hostage wasn’t enough, or decided on harsher threats, and needed a back-up option. 

Speaking of guards, he still needed to talk to Mr Shirogane about Bogh in a bit more detail too, but back to the emails. 

The writer also stated somewhat imperiously that they would give Mr Holt time to reconsider, and speak to him again in six months. The timestamps since the last email and the attack at Voltedge lined up.

“Did you speak with anyone about this beforehand? Before the attack?” he asked, sitting on the edge of the table.

Mr Holt shook his head, running his hands through his hair. “I called the police when they started getting threatening, to be on the safe side, and blocked the contact information. Let security know that anyone from the company was to be refused entry.”

Keith nodded as the Chief Superintendent asked his own questions, processing his thoughts after the exhaustingly one afternoon. He’d have to try and find the report that would have been made with Mr Holt’s complaints about the initial email threats. There might be something there worth following up.

Tomorrow though. He didn’t think they’d get much more done tonight. There was only so much they could so without a lead, and right now, they didn’t really have one. The gruelling call from Sendak, which had served its purpose exquisitely as far as the cult master was concerned, had not at all gone as they had hoped. 

The man had established his control over the situation and had made it perfectly clear how he wanted things to proceed, and the confidence and calm Mr Holt had shown at the start had understandably vanished after his daughter had been violently manhandled on screen.

Worse, their main hope in taking the call—tracing it to a location—had proven fruitless; the video had been conducted behind a VPN, to no-one in the digital team’s surprise, so despite their best efforts (Keith lost track of the technical jargon Regris had explained it with), they had no location.

It would have been an extremely good lead, but considering that they even had trouble tracking down shipments from the cult’s cartels Keith wasn’t surprised. Half of the battle against the cult was finding them; their ability to cover their tracks had been notorious since Keith had been in training.

Unfortunately, that meant that for now, they had to cooperate with him.

“What exactly would the designs he wants you to adapt entail?” he asked.

Mr Holt stared at him, as did Kolivan, though his Chief Superintendent seemed happy to let him talk, putting an encouraging hand on his shoulder. “They were originally a home fire protection system,” Mr Holt said. “I changed and donated the design to emergency crews after the attacks started growing in frequency, and zaiforge was developed to a weaponised level, so I already have the designs for the neutralisers but… the chemicals used to make zaiforge are extremely volatile by themselves and…” he shook his head. “...I can only imagine why purificationists would want the neutralisers adapted like this. A bomb like that would be almost catastrophic. The government has the copies of the blueprints, but I have the originals in secure cloud vault storage, like all our other private contract tech...” he explained. “...if I’d known this would happen...”

“You can’t think like that. You had no way of knowing Mr Holt, and they saved many of your own employees,” Keith said, trying to reassure him. “This is not a revenge attack for making the neutralisers; if that were the case, your daughter wouldn’t have been kidnapped, and this would have happened years ago.”

“And this is better?” the distraught man demanded as Keith flicked on the boards between an article about the neutralisers he’d found, and the picture of Sendak. “You saw what that monster did to her! I can’t even begin to think how scared she must be... She’s always been so fierce about what she wanted. I’ve never seen her so frightened…” there were tears running into his beard. “Ever since she turned sixteen, and her words appeared, we’ve done everything we possibly could to protect her from something like this. Now she’s the furthest from being safe that she’ll ever be!”

Kolivan put a hand on his shoulder, and handed him a few tissues from the box on the table that some other, more foresighted human had provided. “You’re scared, that’s perfectly understandable,” he assured him. 

“I can’t get it out of my head… he just… he would have killed her right there and then if he wanted and… how… What exactly is she going to happen to her? You saw what he did! What if... What else would he…?”

He looked sick as he trailed off, looking between them both. Kolivan was the first to catch on, given Keith was more distracted by just how unusual the whole set up was.

“Sendak isn’t… a kind man, by any means. His threats were unfortunately not jests, but sexual violence has never been something we’ve dealt with in cases involving the Purificationists,” Kolivan said. “It is impossible to say for sure, but in general, it’s not a trademark of theirs.”

Keith chewed his lip as they talked. The fact that the Purificationists had been ghosting Voltedge already made their targeting of Mr Holt more realistic, but it highlighted something else as well; Sendak had gone to extreme lengths to try and get these plans, lengths Keith had never heard of him going to. 

At first, he’d tried to be subtle about it, but it was obvious now that whatever he wanted them for was more important than his own anonymity if he was willing to show his face in a ransom call.

That meant the plans had value. That they had a bargaining chip of their own, and this time, Sendak would have to rely on Mr Holt’s cooperation. 

Twyla had been working at Voltedge, Bogh had been sneaked into the Holts inner circle. this had been planned to minute detail, potentially for over two years. Why hadn’t they targeted the buildings hard drives for the plans? 

Or had they? 

“Has your cloud vault had any notifications about cyber-attacks recently?” Keith asked Mr Holt. “Or in the past?”

“A few weeks ago,” the man nodded, going into his datapad again, frowning. “There was a full lockdown on it. It froze our shares for a while, but nothing was taken. There have been others, but… it's a big company. They happen every so often, but no-one has succeeded in breaking our digital security.”

So they may have already tried, and failed. He’d have to double check Twyla’s employee records when they came through, but if they hadn’t been able to access the files from within the company itself, then Sendak was left with few other ways to get the plans he wanted.

“So that means this is Sendak’s last resort,” Keith mumbled to himself. “It’s not what he _wants_ to do, but what he _has_ to do.” 

“Keith?” Kolivan called out. 

He waved a hand at him, trying to keep his head clear; this wasn’t a quick, in-an-out raid, or a bomb that could be planted in advance, or even something they could shoot into a building from a launcher. 

It was something more drawn out—it would have to be, if Sendak was going to get what he wanted. If he could do it himself, the cultist wouldn’t have resorted to it. It was too much exposure.

“...we can force his hand.” he said to himself, before turning back to the other two men sitting at the table; Kolivan was giving him a look, but when wasn’t he? “Can you make them Mr Holt?” Keith asked finally. 

“Pardon?” Mr Holt asked, caught off guard by the question.

“The designs. You agreed earlier; I realise you were pressured, and I don’t blame you for it—of course you’d agree, give the situation—but was that just desperation, or can it be done?”

“Keith?” Kolivan asked, his voice slow, suspicious. “What are you thinking?”

“Right now, I think that the best thing to do is play along,” he said bluntly. There was no way to dress the words up to sound better. Kolivan might have that talent, but Keith? Not so much.“Build him the repurposed neutralisers.” 

“Are you insane?” Mr Holt choked. “Do you have any idea what these chemicals can do? This isn't something flammable like komar fluid! Even if I made this—”

“—Purificationists attacked my hometown using zaiforge,” Keith interrupted him. “ I’ve been leading the arson unit for three years now, so yes, I’m aware of the damage it can cause, but right now it’s the only advantage we have.”

“ _Excuse me?_ ” the man blinked.

Keith pulled out the chair beside Mr Holt, and sat down in that instead of on the table, so they were on an equal eye level. He didn’t want the man to think he was trying to tell him what to do (though he kind of was). He just wanted to make him feel more comfortable as he explained himself.

“Mr Holt, I realise that this probably won’t seem like much of an advantage to you—Sendak is blackmailing you with your daughter’s life, of course that’s _not_ an advantage. It’s a terrible position to be in,” he said carefully, hoping he was choosing his words well. “But right now, you and Sendak both have something of equal value to each other.”

He was never very good at the people side of things. He could be a bit too blunt. When Bakki retired, he was sure it was only Kolivan’s support that got him the chance to sit the DCI exam going by how poorly he’d done on some of the pre-exam interview questions from the higher-ups.

“Sendak wants this design badly enough to show his face,” Keith said, before the man could protest with something (presumably about his daughter being worth more than terrorist weapon plans). “He’s an incredibly wanted fugitive, so that he’s even taking control of this… situation, means it’s important that he gets these designs. He knows he can only get these plans from you, and that you would never willingly give them to him. Paying you didn’t work, and he hasn’t been able to steal them from you either; if he could get them without exposing himself, he would have done it already. He’s been forced to come out into the open to try and get them. I cannot stress enough how rare that is.” 

Since Keith had started leading the central station's arson team, which was overseeing the investigation with support from other stations and arson units, there had been two sightings of Sendak, and one of them wasn’t even confirmed. Just suspected. Seeing his face in a video call was the kind of miracle he’d never have thought would exist, and yet it was right here in front of them.

“The only reason he has your attention right now is because he kidnapped Katie,” he continued. “He knows she’s his only bargaining piece with you, so he can’t afford to lose her. He’s not going to kill her; there’s no point.”

Well, not yet. In the call, Katie had been blindfolded at first, but she had still seen Sendak’s face. Which meant that he wasn’t _concerned_ about her seeing it; that was worrying. In most cases, if a kidnapper’s face was seen, and they had a chance to escape with their demands, the victim was more likely to end up dead before the deadline.

Sendak was already a public face, but the sightings hadn’t been common or close. Katie was being exposed to him on a degree that only other cultists got the pleasure of, and he had a sinking feeling that Sendak wasn’t worried about revealing it so familiarly around her because he didn’t plan to let her familiarity with it leave captivity.

That was a problem for future Keith to figure out though; right now they needed something more than speculation to be of any use. Judging by Kolivan’s expression, he had the same thoughts, but his silence was as good as any other indication to continue would have been.

“He knows that these plans can’t be conjured overnight either—he didn’t give you a deadline. That’s not advantageous in a situation like this. Ideally, he wants an instant result, but adapting something just cannot be done overnight, am I wrong?”

Mr Holt, who looked considerably less incensed and abhorrent, shook his head; Keith could practically see the cogs in his mind working as he followed the line of thought he was trying to explain. 

“Even if it’s just adapting the design, it’ll take weeks, at least a month…”

“Kidnappings are tricky if they turn into stalemates; they can fall apart on both sides if they go on for too long,” Keith said. “Sendak is intelligent enough to realise that there is a risk that is exactly what will happen here if he’s going to get the results he wants, and that makes him nervous.” he continued.

Going up to the screens, he pulled out videos from previous attacks off of the web. 

“Sendak never makes drawn out attacks; all the fires and bombings he’s been responsible for have been quick, hard for us to react to, and well planned,” he explained, switching between different articles and coverage videos of the attacks. “It’s why he’s managed to go unapprehended for so many years. I hate it, but he’s fucking smart, and normally, faster than our teams, because he has his escapes planned, never stays in the same place twice, and avoids making a show. But this?” he put his hand over the picture of Katie Holt. “The fire as a distraction? _Kidnapping?_ This is the opposite of that.”

Kolivan’s eyes widened, and Keith internally cheered, knowing he had his Chief Superintendent on board now. He could see where he was going.

“He’ll have to stay in one place,” Kolivan said. “He needs to maintain contact with Mr Holt and while he can hide the signals with burner phones, and sit behind a VPN on the move, he’s also got to make sure that Katie isn’t given any chances to escape, and that she stays in passably good health. He can’t do that moving around all the time,” he muttered to himself. “He said that she was sick because of the drugs, and was too quick to explain her head injury as an accident. He wouldn’t have done it if he was sure of his own superiority in negotiations yet. He’s uncomfortable with the balance in this situation.”

“Yes, he’s gambling a lot on Mr Holt’s willingness to make these plans. We’ve always found his old hideouts, usually a few days after he’s left, sometimes hours. He knows we're getting closer, that this isn’t a good situation for him,” Keith pointed out, before going back to the man staring at them both as he jumped around on tangents and background information he didn’t have. 

“Mr Holt, right now, I’m sorry to say we have nothing to go on. My team has already exhausted all of Sendak’s known previous locations. The trace failed, so until we can try and get access to his VPN, we don’t have a location. We don’t have footage of the kidnapping yet either, so as it stands, we don’t even have any leads on which direction your daughter has been taken,” he stated, trying to keep his tone calm and patient. 

“If Sendak finds another opportunity, or changes his mind, as much as I hate admitting it, there is nothing we can do to help her,” he said, carefully. “We _need_ more time. Sendak doesn’t want to expose himself, but he has to, and if we proceed with his demands, while we put ourselves on a timer, you are the one who has control of it. We can analyse the video calls, find the footage, check some of the more obscure locations, and we have people in custody still being interviewed… if you can make these plans, and make Sendak expose himself, we can find him.”

Keith glanced at Kolivan, wondering if he’d maybe spoken to much, jumped to conclusions, or just sounded crazy. Even he had to admit, he’d had better ideas in the past, but without anything to go on, there was only so much any team could do.

“You really think you can find them?” Mr Holt asked; his voice was cracked and sounded dry. 

Keith spied some glasses beside the tissues, and a jug of water, and poured the man a small glass before answering.

“I’m not certain of it,” he said honestly, watching as Sam sipped at the water. He couldn't make outright promises that all was going to be fine and dandy, because there was a big chance they wouldn't. “But if you can make these designs, and buy us this time, then I know the odds of it will be better.”

Regris was taking some of the footage home to work on. Zethrid and Tabor he knew had headed back down to the cells to speak with the people who had been apprehended during the attack at the company headquarters. 

As it was, until one of the Purificationists talked, or they found something on the footage, there really wasn’t much they could do. They just needed time.

“The neutralisers were never made to hold zaiforge, ” Mr Holt said, after about five minutes of tense silence. His face was pale, and his hands were shaking as he clasped them, staring at the table, thinking.“But it wouldn't be hard to adapt them... just fiddly, especially giving the instability of the components involved…”

He tapped around on his datapad, tapping into the system and opening an app of some kind; some virtual designs for the very tech they had been talking about showed up on the screen, and he frowned, tapping buttons, changing tiny sections, opening the layers of designs critically.

“It would be a lot of taking apart and putting back together…” he said, half to himself. “They would need new filters, transmitters, a different construction material, but I think it could be done. It would take weeks, if not longer to get to full blueprints, but for basic plans… those I can finish relatively soon,” he said finally.

“If you want to talk this over with your family first before making a decision, you should do so,” Kolivan advised. “It’s been a long day. We should all get some rest—” He shot a look in Keith’s direction. “—but we will need to know tomorrow morning on how you would like to proceed.”

Still a little quaky, Mr Holt nodded, following Kolivan’s lead and getting to his feet. “I need to hold a press conference,” he said. “About the fire; if someone asks the reasoning behind it, what should I tell them?” he asked, looking at Kolivan, then Keith.

Kolivan raised an eyebrow at him—Keith wished he’d stop. “For now, don’t mention Sendak or any direct involvement with the Purificationists in your daughter’s kidnapping,” he advised. “The arson we’ve already publicly declared as their doing, so that’s safe enough. Whether you wish to tell the press about the kidnapping itself, or keep the information private, is your choice, but for now, I wouldn't recommend it.”

He nodded, and after a short farewell to them both, left the room; Keith watched him outside, embracing his wife, who was sitting waiting with their son and Romelle, talking quietly as the rest of his rightly scared and worried family gathered their belongings.

“I’m surprised you didn’t tell him to make it public,” Kolivan commented.

“I’m not _that_ impulsive. If he mentions it, some awareness might help but until we know where Sendak’s place is on media involvement, it’s better not to let them get mixed into this if we can avoid it,” Keith shrugged. “Have _some_ faith in me Kolivan.”

“Oh, I have plenty of faith in you,” the Chief Superintendent said, heading for the door. “I just find your methods baffling sometimes. Go home before your dog comes looking for you Keith.”

Keith scowled at him, and in a moment of petulant childishness utterly unbecoming of his rank, stuck his tongue out, before following Kolivan to the journey home, and another long night.

* * *

Keith, not age, is the reason Kolivan has grey hair.


	4. The Days Were Short

Three days after the first contact with Sendak, and four days since the disastrous fire at Voltedge HQ, Keith woke up on Friday morning with dog slobber on his face to a message from Regris that had him scrambling for his bike leathers with very little dignity.

‘ _Hey sleepy head, when you come out of your self-induced coma, we finally found something on the footage you might want to see._ ’

Scrambling Kosmo into his passenger pod behind the driver’s seat, he kicked the bike into gear, and justified the use of the pink and purple flashers as he took the off-grid route between the gridways in order to get back to the station as fast as he could with the knowledge this was related to a high priority case, and not because he had slept entirely through his alarm.

He hoped that whatever Regris had found would give them something to go on in locating Katie Holt. The previous day had been fruitless except from a few of the apprehended cultists being matched to unknown offenders from previous incidents. 

Which was great. But it didn’t really help their major case. Even a (fake) bribe of lessened charges for information hadn’t worked. In the end, Kolivan had all but threatened to suspend him if he didn’t go home and sleep properly after sneaking back after about four hours sleep on Tuesday night after talking to Mr Holt.

So, he’d gone home, and set his alarm for five am, only he hadn’t woken up, and now he was not only late (by his reckoning, not his clock-in time) but he was ridiculously behind on all the update emails and media coverage of the same accident.

Had the death count gone up again? Were there anymore updates from the on-scene forensic examinations? Had there been any more details from the fire department? All good questions he still hadn’t checked because he’d barely had two minutes to grab his datapad, let alone check it before leaving.

As always, the digital lab was a room of pensive and frustrated faces, but mostly silence when Keith arrived, Kosmo taken by one of the uniformed patrol officers to the kennels (though he’d probably see him again before lunch anyway). 

Making his way past a couple of desks, Keith pulled a swivel chair from an empty one, sitting towards the back of it and skidding to a stop beside Regris. “You called?” he asked, looking up at the multiple videos his friend had open on his screens.

“I did, look at this,” he said, pointing to the screen. There was a frozen video recording on the screen.

“Look at what?” he asked, looking at image of the cordoned off car park. Regris handed him some of his cold coffee. It had been defiled with way too much milk, but Keith took a mouthful anyway. “Where?”

He really didn’t see anything on the screen; it was just the same picture of the car park behind Voltedge as they had seen for the past few days.

“Alright, so I looked at the footage from one of the back-up drives we recovered from Voltedge, and as far as they show, Katie Holt was in her office lab with her bodyguard after yelling with her brother about something in the media department,” Regris said, bringing up shots taken from those cameras.

The first showed the woman pointing her finger at her brother and waving her arms between his laughs, face like a thundercloud. Then there were a few more of her heading back through the hallways on various floors, and a few more showing her picking up something she had dropped on the office floor with Bogh.

“After that, we lose track of her when the bombs blow out the cameras,” Regris said. “Which makes sense. The servers were all damaged in the explosions and the fire. But then I got some new information, from Mr Holt,” He pulled an email up with several attachments.

“Firstly, the employee records of all the Voltedge employees, including Twyla Yama,” he grinned, handing him the datapad. “Take three guesses which department she worked in.”

 _Finally._ Keith all but snatched the datapad to delve his eyes over the records; he realised that the company was at a massive disadvantage given it had been ravaged by fire, but there were back up files and online vault storage. 

Considering the priority that the investigation was under—terrorism, arson, murder, gang related crime to start—he’d been hoping for something this simple a lot sooner, before it also became a kidnapping and extortion case.

“She worked in the digital security department for three years?” he all but choked. “They were that far into the company?”

“There are a few others in cleaning, HR, and the media lounge. Even the _company cafe_ had a guy. They were definitely willing to go the extra mile for these plans. I checked over the servers after that, and the ones in Katie’s office; that proved ultimately useless, since by the time we got anything, the fire nuked them.” Regris said. 

Keith frowned; this didn’t sound as optimistic as he had hoped.

“But!” 

Ah, there was a ‘ _but_ ’.

“That’s not the best part; mind how Mr Holt got her the bodyguards because of her words?” Regris asked.

“Yeah?”

“Turns out he went a whole lot further than just giving her bodyguards; the cameras in her lab weren’t the only ones, and not even Bogh or Shirogane knew about the extras. They had their own server in his home office!”

Keith didn’t know what that meant but Regris seemed gleeful, so assumed Mr Holt’s (well-founded) paranoia meant good things for them, so instead of questioning the man’s morals for hiding cameras in his daughter’s office, Keith waited for Regris to explain further. 

“After he sent me the info, I sent a team over to pick it up Wednesday evening, and send it down here. I’d just finished extracting the footage when I messaged you,” he said, bringing up a new file on the file.

The video that played showed Katie looking around the office as alarms blared, before heading towards the door. ‘ _Shit. A fire drill? Right Now? Rea-_ ’

Her bodyguard slammed the door closed, turning her around, pressing her back flat against it in the same movement. She kicked and struggle as he covered her mouth, trying to push off the bulk of the supposed protector as he pulled something small from his pocket. 

‘ _I’m afraid not, Princess, it’s a distraction. Sorry Katie, but your father needs some motivation,_ ’ he said. Her struggles kicked up and she managed to scream out under the blare of the fire alarms as he injected her with the drug. 

Torseth clamped his hand around her mouth, and a few moments later, she was unconscious, and being carried out of the room, looking at first glance only as if she had collapsed, or been injured.

“No wonder she was out of it during the video call,” he muttered to himself. Just how much sedative had they given her to knock her out that fast? He’d have to ask Romelle if there were any drugs floating around that could work so quickly, or if it could have been a max dose of something. “Still at least we can say we have a time.”

“It’s also proof the cameras were tampered with. I compared the footage to the ones from the normal cameras; they cut out just as this starts, before the alarm is raised, and there’s no sign of Bogh in the hallways, so I went back to the site,” he said.

“Yesterday?” Keith blinked; Regris hated all-nighters.

“I had a clue, I wasn’t dropping it; you’re not the only stubborn one around here,” Regris said bluntly, draining the last of his coffee. “Though I don’t know how you survive on so much caffeine mate, I started shaking at three cups, and this is… I can’t remember what number this is.” he said, pulling up the original images of the back carpark.

“You have low tolerance; I’m an addict,” Keith shrugged. “You went back to the site?”

“Yes!” Regris said, forcing himself back to the topic with the enthusiasm and energy that only came from too much caffeine intake. “Blaytz took me and my team up. We didn’t find anything in the hallway, cameras were shot, and the servers were basically useless—I think they targeted them with a separate bomb. Forensics found white phosphorus shrapnel in the server room, and it was pretty much destroyed…” he said, pulling up the first image he’d had on screen, of the car park. “So I went around to the cameras we were looking at the other day and checked the feed wires. The one above the fire exit was definitely jacked, but that one had an internal hard drive.”

“And that’s good?” Keith checked; Regris was starting to get technical and while he had a rudimentary understanding of computer jargon, he hadn’t exactly specialised in digital crime the way Regris had.

“Yes, because it means the camera has a recording of the footage that wouldn’t have been sent to servers—it’s been tampered with, but we still have the original footage. Following?”

Keith nodded. At least he understood that somehow Regris had noticed something on the cameras, followed his gut, tracked down the anomaly, and found video footage of the actual kidnapping. It gave them a starting time point to work from, and was something they could potentially follow.

“I’m reasonably certain that the same thing happened to the hallway cameras, because I couldn’t find anything on the ghost servers,” presumably seeing the confusion on Keith’s face, he paused. “That’s the back-up servers kept at the labs across town,” he clarified.

“Right,” Keith nodded, managing to keep up. Sort of. “So you couldn’t find anything on those back-ups either?”

“Zilch, nada, zip, nothing,” Regris nodded. “Which is definitely weird, because having seen the footage from the cameras Mr Holt placed in the office, they should have shown her escape route—” he paused, “—though I’m not sure escape route is the right term in this context, but words are starting to fail me, and you know what I mean,” he said; Keith patted his shoulder encouragingly. “Anyway, after I got the hard drive from the other camera, I double checked the others; they had been jacked too, the ones inside are useless. But, unlike the internal cameras, the other two facing the car park are on a completely different networks, different security companies, meaning, all the footage is on different servers!”

Regris had an overjoyed expression on his face; Keith tried to mirror it. “So…?”

“It means we can get the footage from those cameras!” he blurted, almost desperate with his explanations. “Those cameras were damaged in the fire too, but they weren’t jacked! One has only been up in the cafe across the road for a few weeks, so the footage won’t have been over-written yet and the other is a different company—some bigwig finance place. I already spoke to the business owners, and they put me in touch with the security companies involved! I’m waiting for them to send me the footage from their ghost servers! It’s not much but it’s a start!”

Keith processed that, then he patted his friend on the shoulder again. “That is great,” he said. “Did you copy me into the email?” 

Regris nodded. “I still haven’t shown you the clip either,” he said, excitement picking up again, albeit wearily. “This is what I got from the internal hard drive on the camera above the fire exit.”

Playing the clip of the car park, Keith watched as they looked onto the mass of cars, sleek convertibles, even one or two old-fashioned wheeled cars with adapted hover-engines filled up the majority of the spaces, but there were a few less impressive models in the bunch.

The camera itself was placed above the doorway, as shown by the small glimpse of the door opening out from the bottom of the screen. They could only see the back of Bogh’s head as he appeared with the rush of workers making through the exit, but his mohawk-ponytail was easily identifiable.

He was given little attention as he made his way out of the door with the unconscious woman, head leaning into his shoulder, held almost protectively as he headed towards the cars behind the gathering crowd.

He made his way towards a vehicle parked in one of the second row of hover bays, just visible from behind a van with the bistro and takeaway branding of the place on the right-hand side of the car park. It was also off in the upper right corner of the screen, limiting what they could actually see.

It was hard to make out what happened—they couldn’t see Bogh as he disappeared around the side of the vehicle—but they did see him climb into the passenger door, his face scanning the crows of terrified people fleeing from the building.

As more people came out, it became harder to see, but it looked like someone else appeared, climbing into the driver’s seat before a flash of white as the van turned out onto the gridway, and completely out of range of the fire exit camera’s view. Not even a skim of the number plate, but if Regris was right about the other security cameras from the bistro and finance building… 

“We can get a different angle from the other private footage,” Regris said. “Then hopefully once we have a number plate or an image of the vehicle, we can track it on the grid, or follow it on the street cameras, if it isn’t registered, which I highly suspect it isn’t.”

That was almost a guarantee, but it was something that could be followed, and that was better than anything else they had found so far. 

“This the best news so far Regris. Go home and sleep, you’ve earned it,” Keith said, putting a hand on his shoulder; Regris made a face. “Or if you have to, borrow the sofa in the breakroom. If the security companies get back to us, I’ll wake you up. Just go sleep. And eat something.”

Regris whined in relief. “Thanks Sir,” he mumbled. 

Once the detective had staggered out of the room in search of a sofa to crash on, Keith fist pumped the air, silently, screwing his lips together to keep himself from yelling with relief.

Finally, they were getting somewhere; he had a few things on his to-do list now, and the next item was to track down Takashi Shirogane.

He had been present when Matthew and his mother brought the kidnapping to Kolivan’s attention, and been present for the call, but he had yet to actually speak to the man properly.

Files were fine, but Keith had his own questions, and he needed to get them answered. Logging off Regris’s workstation, he turned, and headed back upstairs to his own office to do just that.

* * *

Katie Holt’s second bodyguard wasn’t hard to track down.

Keith found his number in the case file, and after a few rings the man answered straight away. There was still nothing from the security companies, so Keith left Regris to his rest without disturbing him, making the trip alone.

Voltedge HQ had been relocated to one of the other buildings owned by the company. It wasn’t quite the landscape defining tower that Voltedge had been, but a research and development lab on the outskirts of the city served the same function, and the space needed.

He was met at the foyer by a receptionist, who took him up a couple of flights of stairs to some spacious offices filled to the brim with people, doubled-up desks, and far too many people that the (presumably temporary) space was really equipped to handle.

Matthew Holt had been given space in an office next door to Sam’s own private one, though that showed no signs of being occupied (the man was purportedly locked down in the labs when not being called away by problems that were constantly found by effect of the ruinous fire).

He was at his desk, tapping with a frown at his phone screen as Keith set a recording device out onto the desk. “You were the one to hire Bogh Torseth as your eventual replacement, correct?” he asked Shiro, once all the pleasantries were out of the way, sitting down on a chair that Matthew had provided.

Takashi Shirogane. A former competitive martial artist from Talwarshire who had specialised in various disciplines. He had a full prosthetic arm. Married to Curtis Blake, thirty-five years old (if you dropped the leap-years), and reasonably financially stable. No kids, but in the process of adopting. 

A bit of backcombing into his family history (lived with his grandparents, volunteered at nursing homes in high school, excellent qualifications) revealed nothing out of order.

It was almost suspicious in and of itself; even his public records only had an insurance claim for the crash the had taken his arm, and a seventeen-year-old speeding fine. He was boringly clean as far as looking like a suspect went. 

Just because Shiro didn’t have any records of suspicious behaviour or criminal activity didn’t mean it wasn’t there—it just meant it hadn’t been caught. There was still a possibility that Shirogane and Torseth were working together, even if cameras put Shiro at a city ice-cream stand with his husband, and the twins they were hoping to adopt at the time of the kidnapping.

It was common in a lot of crimes to have a second, and sometimes third party involved to watch the victims, or monitor them, send their information along, or even ensure they followed criminal demands; while Keith didn’t think Mr Shirogane was involved as a third party, he couldn’t rule out the idea.

“I helped Mr Holt go through the applicant interviews, and supplied a few suggestions from people I know,” Shiro nodded. “Bouncers or general security folk who I knew might be interested in something better paying, and long term,” the white-haired man said. “But we went through all of them together, and Katie was present for the ones that Mr Holt thought would be suitable enough for a trial on her schedule. She was the one to pick Bogh.”

“Dad gave her the choice,” Matthew explained. “He was paranoid enough, but he knows she hated it and was just humouring him to avoid family drama, so rather than pick someone she’d try to ditch like she did when she was in high school, he thought it might help if she got to choose someone herself this time.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Your sister didn’t take to having a bodyguard well then?” he checked.

“At first, I think I lost track of her for an average of sixteen hours a week,” Shiro said, looking uncomfortable. “It usually didn’t take long to find her, but she still managed to avoid being picked up, or managed to run off with her friends in a crowd,” he paused. “It wasn’t that we didn’t get along, she just didn’t like having her previous freedom to do, well _anything_ , unsupervised taken away. What sixteen-year-old would?”

None of them, probably. Keith had sort of blocked as much of his stupid teenage antics from his mind as he could thanks to the mortification that came with age, but he couldn’t imagine he’d have made any better decisions if he’d had someone following him around (they would probably have been worse).

“And now?” he prompted.

“And now he covers for her when mum and dad want to drag us out for their work shindigs,” Matthew said, still tapping away on his desktop. “Last excuse was... a migraine I think?”

Shiro still looked uncomfortable. “Not all of them, but that last one Jeff was there, and I really didn’t want to stand there while they made awkward small talk, or got angry and drunk and made-out before they started arguing again. And the time before that, she really _was_ sick; she actually let me stay in the spare room she was so out of it.”

Keith nodded, checking the recorder that had been set out on Matthew’s desk; the lights were still bright and blue, so all was well battery-wise.

“What about Bogh?” he asked. “You already said you knew him before—how close were you?”

Shiro’s face dropped, and he nodded, reluctantly. “I worked with him at a club as a bouncer before Mr Holt offered me the job as Katie’s bodyguard. He was fairly friendly, responsible, showed up on time; I told him about the position because I knew he’d treat it seriously,” he said. “I suppose he did, just not the way anyone envisioned.”

That was putting it lightly. “We have your basic statement from the other day at the station, can you add anything to it?”

Shiro nodded, and while faltering at first, he soon had additions to everything they knew about Bogh. His habits, his temperament, and personal life; whatever the man could think of. They were nearly done when the interruption of an incoming call buzzed and pinged from the phone abandoned on Matthew’s desk.

He gave it an uncertain look, picking up the device, frowning. Pausing as he finally answered the call, Keith watched as his gaze, bored and unfocused, pointed at the computer screen without any concentration, began to change.

“Who is this?” he asked. “Hello?”

The suspicion began to build even as Matthew’s face lost its confusion for dismay; his face was pale as the reply came through, and he pulled the phone from his ear, tapping the speakerphone button.

“I-It’s on...” he said, his voice, eyes wide, looking between Shiro and Keith, trying to tell them something they already knew as muffled sounds echoed down the line. “Hello?”

‘ _M-Matt?_ ’ a shaky, raspy female voice echoed through the speaker.

“Call Kolivan,” Keith told Shiro quietly, handing him his own phone, unlocking it with a thumb-swipe as Katie Holt’s voice shattered the room. He couldn’t leave Matthew without help. 

He hadn’t been told what to expect in dealing with Sendak the way his father had been. Unlike with video calls, which could be relatively controlled at the station, they couldn’t just mute their end of the call and give advice unheard like this. Someone needed to help him through this, try and keep the situation controlled.

“Pidge?” Matthew asked, his voice panicked, holding the phone close but still free enough for Keith to listen as Shiro quickly and quietly headed for the doorway. “Katie? Is that you?” he asked.

Keith glanced at the recording device, wondering if the charge would last before the call gave out. Sendak had to be listening, and if Matthew could draw him into conversation, it would be good to have some more audio to try and analyse.

‘ _Yeah… it’s me._ ’

“Don’t worry,” Matthew said, hurried and almost tangling his tongue in his haste. “Dad’s doing what they told him, okay? He’s not going to let that Sendak guy hurt you like that again. Is your head okay? Where it got banged?”

Outside he could see Shiro through the glass in the door, talking on his phone, nodding; catching Keith’s glance, he held a thumb up. Good. Kolivan knew what was happening.

‘ _Matt,_ ’ her voice choked up. ‘ _Matt, I’m sorry,_ ’ she was definitely crying; the sniffles were light, but there was a clench in her words, and frustration. It sounded dry and painful in her voice. ‘ _I can’t—_ ’ her words were clipped and frustrated. ‘ _—I’m supposed... He wants me to tell you something…To tell dad…_ ’

Matthew glanced at him looking for some kind of direction, but as much as his heart felt for the man, and his sister, for this unpleasant situation, there wasn’t much he could offer to help. They wouldn’t be able to trace the call. Matthew looked panicked, and Keith couldn’t blame him; he probably knew that was exactly why he had been called. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” he said, after Keith had nodded, making a continuous circulating gesture with one hand. “Just tell me.” He took a breath, closing his eyes. “We can talk later sis. Okay?” he said, his tone more even, like they were just having an everyday conversation, and Keith put a hand on his shoulder.

Right now, the idea in having her speak was clear; Sendak wanted disarray and panic. The best they could do was avoid putting his sister in any more danger; she was almost certainly being coerced and threatened into the call, and the fear echoing down the call was obvious.

The sobs in response were a bit harder, and he heard a poorly-controlled, cracked ‘ _Okay,_ ’ in reply.

It was the first time Katie had been allowed any contact with her family directly in days, and it was still under forced conditions, without the free-will to speak her own mind. What Sendak was doing wasn't just cruel to Matthew, but her too.

“Alright sis,” Matthew continued, his tone forced into casual and calm, soft. “I’m listening, just take your time,” His words were close, informal, the kind people tended to use more with people they trusted, reassuring. “What do you got for me?”

‘ _He…_ ’ her voice cut off between the sniffles. ‘ _…_ _Dad, Sendak wants him to… 'put on a show,' at… at his next press conference…_ ’ she said. The words sounded so forced they were almost too clenched to make out.

“Alright, I’ll handle it,” Matthew nodded confidently, his hands shaky as he pulled at his hair. “Don’t worry okay? Well get this sorted. _Nothing_ is going to happen to you.”

It was painful, even as a bystander, to listen to her self-control shatter. Keith could hear the difference in her voice when—done with the message Sendak had been forcing her to relay—fear and desperation bled into it instead. ‘ _Matt, I’m sorry! I didn’t-_ ’ she was cut off, muffled again.

“Katie!”

‘ _No! Please! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please! Let me talk to my broth-_ ’ Struggling persisted, echoing with thuds and muffled screams before there was the creak of a door somewhere on the other end of the line—‘ _Matt! Ma-_ ’

‘ _I’m glad I was able to catch you Matthew,_ ’ Sendak said, the richer, unsettlingly comfortable tone in his voice clear and pronounced as Katie’s pitched protests and cries fading from the speaker behind his deeper baritone. ‘ _I’d hate to interrupt any meetings you have. We’ll be back in touch after the next press conference._ ’ there was a pause. ‘ _I assume your companion is a member of the investigation team?_ ’

Matthew stared at the phone, then around his office, horror on his face as he realised they were being watched. 

“Keith Hawkins,” Keith said, his tone level as he addressed the cultist. “Since Mr Holt is unavailable right now, I’d like to speak on his behalf, if that’s acceptable?”

It was worth a shot. There was no point in hiding his presence or not speaking when they had been aware of it the whole time. But where had they put the cameras? Or were there still cultists amongst the staff in this building too? Did they have access to the video cameras somehow?

There was a chuckle of amusement on the other end of the phone. ‘ _Very well Mr Hawkins—I’ll indulge your request._ ’

“You say you’ll be back in touch, but sporadic updates aren’t going to help you or Mr Holt,” he started. “Give us a set time and date for your next call. That way you can both have some assurance in place. After all, isn’t transparency from both parties important for developments like this?”

Silence coiled through the room as he and Matthew waited for a response.

‘ _I believe you are Rolstron’s fresh blood,_ ’ he commented. ‘ _He’d never be so… bold,_ ’ Sendak said after what felt like an age in wait, his voice layered with the same unnerving patient satisfaction. ‘ _We’ll talk again._ After _the press conference._ ’

With those parting words, the call fell silent.

Matthew collapsed into his chair, head in his hands and shoulders shaking. Shiro, who had been watching from the doorway, stepped in to hand Keith his phone back.

“Kolivan asked me to tell you to phone him once it was over,” he said quietly, a concerned gaze towards Matthew. “Should I go find Mr Holt?”

Keith felt like cursing the air blue—they were being led around by the nose, already—but he took a breath, and nodded instead. Losing his temper here wouldn't help anyone, and now they had a press conference deal with.

“I think that would be best.”

* * *

Not A Lot of Progress is still Progress! But yeah, If I want punch a wall with Sendak's face already, how do you think Keith and Matt feel? Place your bets now XD

I will say right here and now that I am a technophobe who does not understand computers at all.

Anything Regris has said has come from interrogation frequent in depth questioning and pleas for aid with [Umbraja](https://archiveofourown.org/users/umbraja/pseuds/umbraja), and I could very well still have fudged it. All the credit for making anything remotely computer related make reasonable sense goes to her, bc... look, I'm _NOT_ a computer girl okay? I'm like Keith.

Words are being spoken and he kinda get it, but is mostly trusting that Regris knows what he's talking about. Ok? Ok.

~~Mel I'm so sorry if i fudged it X'(~~

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	5. You Are My Accuser

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please check the Series Notes and Tags for Content Warnings. TL:DR in the end notes

As far as rich businessmen went, Samuel Holt seemed like a decent one to Keith. He’d already offered paid private healthcare for all those in his staff who had been injured in the fire, paid for any counselling needed, and donated support money to everyone who had been in some way a victim of the attack.

It wasn’t even that surprising for him; he was known for philanthropic spending, and while he and his family lived more comfortably than others, he’d given back from a very early stage in his career; it was an awful kind of ironic that the only person he couldn’t help so easily with a flash of his credit chip or a digital cheque was his own daughter.

He arrived at Matthew’s office mere minutes after Shiro had left to find him, and while clearly worried, he and his son quickly started making arrangements as the police teams arrived to start going through the security of the secondary building.

Kolivan came with them, and he watched the teams sweep through the offices, combing and searching for bugs or hidden cameras.

“Didn’t they already sweep the building before it was made temporary HQ?” Keith asked him. 

Kolivan nodded. “I suspect you’re right, and there are still cultists within the company,” he said. “We should also examine our own staff again. I want to have our security on point before this press conference.”

He was right. They usually ran checks on the Purificationist task force every couple of months or so, just to be sure, but more security was clearly going to be the way to go with this case. 

Keith looked towards the bodyguard he had initially gone looking for as he spoke with Matthew and Romelle (who had followed Kolivan despite his pointed ‘ _stay out of the investigation_ ’ looks), alongside the man from witness protection.

Shiro hadn’t used his own phone during the meeting, but his and Matthew's had both been taken by Regris (who looked a little less like a zombie after his nap) for the tech teams to examine. 

Things were slowly starting to get on track again after the call, investigation wise at least; it took the teams twenty minutes to find the camera that Sendak had been using, and it was quickly taken away to be double checked and examined.

The staffing background checks would take longer, but Zethrid—besides her specialisation with the bomb squads—had an uncanny knack for finding people and data amongst numbers and identification codes, and she had already cut the list in security by half when Keith phoned to check in on her at the station following the file transfers. 

Now he just had to hope everything else went as well with the press conference.

It had been announced as an update on the event management and reparations that would be involved in rebuilding Voltedge HQ. The rush of a police presence and investigation teams at the second building however, would likely come up, and that was where they planned to lead into the kidnapping itself. 

Keith could tell Kolivan was edgy about it, and he couldn’t blame him as he later stood brushing imaginary dust from the front of a dark navy suit and purple tie. 

The whole thing was uncomfortable, mainly because it would put a lot of attention that they wouldn’t need on the investigation, and additional pressure on Mr Holt, not to mention give Sendak attention that he would perceive as positive. 

It was bowing to his control, and didn’t look good. 

His own suit felt itchy and a little too close around the collar as he joined the Chief Superintendent at the front of the stage in the conference room; a swathe of reporters had been seated in front of the tables that had been set up, and it was easy to see that they were getting a little restless.

Checking the news streams before he arrived revealed that there was a leak about a possible personal tragedy for the company owner already; Mr Holt was standing, waiting, talking with his wife.

Keith wasn’t sure how well either of them would handle this, and the stress was already starting to weigh down on the older man; there was a fresh stress and tension in his shoulders as Colleen pulled him close, and they tried to find a bit of comfort in each other privately, perhaps for the last time in the course of the future to come.

After this there would be constant demands for updates from the press, not just from Mr Holt, but from the task force as well. Kolivan’s superiors had already been on the phone to go through some of the protocols that were being set up in advance.

Then there were the side effects of the announcement and its relation to the arson attack; that had the potential to be extremely messy. People had _died_ in the attack, and with someone for the public, the victims and their families to point a finger at, there could be problems from public reactions and perception. No doubt several lawyers had been consulted about it already.

At least, they would be able to say that police were ‘ _investigating some leads_ ’ now. Had this been held a few days ago, they would have been forced to lie through their teeth just to avoid appearing as though they were being given the run-around by Sendak.

Which they really still were, but at least now they would have something they could talk about and try to appear more competent than Keith currently felt. He knew the leads would come. It took time, especially digital things he didn’t understand, but it was incredibly frustrating.

This press conference was the epitome of it; it was a waste of time that would just act as free terror publicity for a psychopath, make their job harder, and keep them from focusing on the real job that needed to be done.

Every day they didn’t spend time working on the few clues left behind was another day in which Katie Holt was held captive in unknown conditions, and while Sendak had claimed she would be looked after—a dubious claim at best already—enforced isolation from her family would be equally detrimental to her well-being, potentially more so.

While with more standard ransom demands, longer captivity had increased survival chances, considering who was managing this one, Katie’s were dubious. It had already been four days since she had been taken. In most of the kidnapping cases he’d worked on, by now, ransom drops were being arranged, suspects were being chased up, arrests being made, or, in the less successful scenarios, bodies being found.

Right now, all they had was a ransom demand, possibly two, if this entire farce counted, a death count from the diversion, and maybe a lead from footage they hadn’t even seen yet. 

“Talk about starting a game against a stacked deck,” he muttered to himself, running a hand over his face, trying to settle his nerves as the backstage crews and organisers rushing around as the start time loomed ahead.

He could only hope this went smoothly. Or as smoothly as a press conference could go, and met Sendak’s demands to ‘ _put on a show_ ’. 

By way of small mercies, Kolivan would be taking the lead on it; Keith was just required to show up, look serious, and hopefully avoid any questions (because he’d inevitably put his foot in them). 

A bell rang somewhere—a phone alarm for the start of the conference he’d set—and Mr and Mrs Holt made their way out onto the stage, greeted by a mass of camera lights and voices that blinked and murmured through the media hall.

After an equally uncomfortable exchange of glances, Kolivan patted him on the shoulder, and with a deep breath, Keith took the first step behind the Chief Superintendent onto the stage.

* * *

The start of the conference went as well as it could really have been expected to have gone. Most of the conversation was about the destroyed building at Voltedge at HQ.

Mr Holt answered those questions with no problems; how was he approaching reconstruction plans? How long would he continue financial support for bereaved families and those who were still hospitalised from the accident? How were job assurances going to be handled? Would he be paying for the damages, or had insurance covered the costs?

Finally, the inevitable questions came from one of the global news teams; “The first attack is suspected to have been conducted by Purificationists, but reports indicate that police presence swarmed your laboratories early this morning. Have any further attacks been attempted?” came from one overseas news crew.

“There was no attack, but there was a security breach at the labs, which is being fully investigated by the task force,” Mr Holt said. “It is suspected to be related to the first attack.”

Which inevitably led to another question from a city reporter Keith dimly recognised—Vakala? Remdax? He’d seen them floating around somewhere before. Crime reporters who tended to focus on the Purificationists and crime related news.

“The attack, the largest from a Purificationist branch for several years now, came as a shock to many people here, it’s so I can only imagine how much of a shock it was for you. Have you had any indications as to why they chose to target your company Mr Holt?”

It was exactly the kind of question they needed (and dreaded) to make the information drop as seamless and easy as possible for Mr Holt.

Sendak had specified that he wanted Mr Holt to ‘ _put on a show_ ’ which meant that Kolivan was reluctant to have too much police intervention as far as the announcement itself was made. Keith couldn’t help agreeing with him.

Sendak hadn’t particularly specified anything though, so they were confident that after Mr Holt had made the announcement, he and Kolivan (mostly Kolivan) could take over the questions without any risks involved. Or as few as could be possible in the situation.

In reality, there were countless risks involved with this, but until they had some better leads on Katie’s location, there wasn’t much else to be done but play along, as frustrating and stressful that would be for everyone.

Sam had taken a deep breath and a sip of water from the glass on the table in front of him; Keith watched the sweat glistening on his forehead as he clasped his hands on the table, looking down at his data pad for notes. It was a tense minute before he finally answered the question.

“I’m afraid that in the days since the fire, I have,” he said carefully. “There’s no easy way to answer your question Mr Millsap, so I’ll have to be blunt and plain. Were it my decision, I’d prefer this to remain between my family and the investigators, but it’s out of my control,” he continued.

He took another sip of water, and another breath.

“Several months ago, I started receiving contractual applications from a company interested in adapting zaiforge neutraliser tech for farming purposes. Over the course of our communications, I became suspicious, and closed the contract early. Threats were made, the petty name calling you’d expect to find between arguing teenagers,” he said. “I reported this to the police and tightened security against the company in question. This was around six months ago. Through my communications with the investigators, the company has since been deduced as a front for the Purificationist cult.”

“Is this true Chief Superintendent Rolston?” one reporter demanded. “Are these communications in any way indicative of placing responsibility for the attack on Mr Holt?” another idiot screamed out over the hubbub; the questions came thick and fast, until one from Remdax’s partner, Vakala, broke through the others.

“What kind of threats were made in the emails?” he asked, with more calm than the other reporters. “Did they give any indication as to what happened at Voltedge HQ on Monday afternoon?”

Sensationalised media groups weren't always so easily contrasted against the more informative channels at events like this, but Remdax and Vakala were some of the few Keith would consider easy to deal with. They were still reporters, but their questions were reasonably thought out, and generally more based in information than some of their competitors.

He watched Mr Holt taking another sip of water. “They were extremely vague, it's only through consultation with Chief Superintendent Rolston and Detective Inspector Hawkins that they became obvious, unfortunately too late for any intervention. The threats themselves…” 

He took another breath; his fingers were shaking a little, and his wife put her hand on top of them. The tight, desperate grip on her simple gesture of support wasn’t something Keith could watch for long.

“...the threats themselves were first made against Voltedge, though not in a manner that was enough to spark worry of a zaiforge attack,” he said, his voice clipping. “Following this, the threats fell on my family, specifically slurs and some statements I’m not going to repeat regarding our children; our son Matthew and… his sister, Katie…” he said.

“Is that why security has been increased for your family? As a precaution to the secondary threats in the emails?” Someone shouted.

“It is. Mathew and his wife, Colleen and I will be moving temporarily to try and accommodate these changes until the investigation is over.”

“What about your daughter? Does she have some other security in place?” Remdax asked. “She has a bodyguard already, I believe?”

Keith shot his Chief Superintendent a subtle eyebrow raise; that question was a bit _too_ specific not to have been a tip off, but Kolivan’s face remained blank, and Keith turned his attention back to the excruciating scene unfolding before them.

“I wish that were the case Mr Millsap, but Katie will not be joining us…”

His voice was shaking too now, the ultimatum of the evening weighed on the precipice of his tongue. Colleen’s face was gaunt as her husband’s as they both braced themselves for the onslaught about to follow what ought to be a personal tragedy.

“…at some point during the fire, she was taken hostage by the same group of Purificationists who caused the attack, a branch led by a man named Sendak.”

The room exploded, and the security staff had to head towards the front bay where the more eager reporters were standing, waving cameras and microphones, light flashing incessantly. It took several minutes for all the noise to calm down with the questions overlapping each other, and only when Kolivan and Sam called out for a little bit of order throughout the room.

“How long have you known your daughter was missing?” one of the reporters asked when Mr Holt nodded in her direction. “And how can you be certain she wasn’t killed in the fire?”

“Since around two-thirty am on Tuesday morning,” Colleen said, taking the brunt of the demanding questions as Mr Holt sipped at his water again; he was already exhausted and Keith felt pity for the man. He couldn't imagine the kind of stress he could be feeling, despite how plain it was to see. “Matthew received a message, a photo, informing him of what had happened, and he contacted the police before calling my husband and I.”

“Has the leader of this attack and kidnapping been confirmed to be Sendak?” Vakala asked. “What demands have been made in exchange for your daughter’s return?”

Keith glanced towards Kolivan, wondering if they should start taking over yet; the Chief Superintendent held a finger up behind the table—‘ _a bit longer_ ’ he said silently.

“The police have confirmed Sendak’s identity,” Mr Holt said, his voice less shaky now. “As for their demands, I’m sorry, but I'm not going to discuss them. I can say he does not want money, and that Mr Hawkins and Chief Superintendent Rolston’s team are advising us with the processes involved in this… scenario.”

“Have you spoken with Sendak?” someone else demanded “Have you spoken with your daughter?”

“We have spoken with Sendak,” Colleen said, her tone reasonably calm. “Mathew had very limited contact with his sister earlier today; we have also seen her in a video call, but…we weren’t able to speak to her at the time.”

“What kind of threats have they made?”

Keith hadn’t planned on intervening yet, or taking over any questions, but the idiot that shouted that, and the looks on the Holts’ faces, made him reconsider, and he took over the microphone before Sam could reply.

“Mr and Mrs Holt will not be answering that; this is a kidnapping case. That fact alone should answer your own question,” he snapped. “Next, something more sensible this time please.”

There was a bit of hubbub from the team that the dumbass reporter hailed from, but Keith ignored them, hearing someone else talking to him. He probably shouldn't have said that, and now he was involved in the whole debacle. Kolivan was going to kill him when they got back to the station, but that would be later

“DCI Hawkins, have the investigative teams found any leads in regard to this incident?” a woman in the mob of standing reporters asked. “Do you believe this was a planned attack?”

“We are investigating some leads,” Keith said, feeling as though he was lying through his teeth. He wasn't, but for as much good as they had found so far, he might as well be. “Obviously, I’m not going to talk about them. But yes, this was part of the planning in Sendak’s attack, though that does not in any way place the blame on Mr and Mrs Holt,” he said, wanting to cut that thought train off before it started. “They're victims just as much as the people injured and killed by the attack, and their daughter. We’re dealing with a terrorist cult; its actions are not their responsibility.”

Kolivan looked like he wanted to slide the microphone away from him, but Keith ignored the look; it was the truth, and he knew that if someone didn’t point out the obvious to the reporters, they’d grab an inch and take it for a mile. The last thing they needed was rumours or accusations of Mr Holt colluding with Sendak or something else ridiculous (because there was bound to be one idiot who’d come to that conclusion).

“Mr Holt, you said you would have preferred to keep this information between yourself and the police” Remdax asked as Mr Holt took a sip of water again—it almost looked like a grounding mechanism, something to help him keep his focus. “Can you explain what you mean by that statement?” Remdax asked.

Mr Holt set down his water again. “As I said, I would have preferred not to reveal this as yet; this is an incredibly difficult situation for my family, not least of all for Katie,” he said, his voice a little shakier now, tiredness getting into the false bravado he put on for the public interrogation.

Beside Keith, Mrs Holt looked to be keeping on top of the live feeds and reaction reports across social media, flicking anxiously at her phone. Then she slowly edged it across the table towards him and Kolivan, catching his eye.

“Right now, as you can imagine, my priority is her safety, and I was told to make this information public by Sendak; that is what I mean when I say the choice to keep this information private is out of my hands. This… man…” Mr Holt forced the word out, as Keith caught his wife’s panicked expression, clearly wishing to say something else as Keith glanced at the phone.

Looking down he scanned the screen and found a list of messages from a blocked number. The last message was a video; Colleen had muted it, in case of being overheard by reporters, but it didn't really need any sound.

“...He threatened to burn her eyes out or set her on fire, so in a choice between our privacy or our daughter’s safety, of course we…”

He trailed off as his wife slowly slid the phone across the table towards him, and Keith seethed, trying to keep himself from reacting openly as Mr Holt’s composure all but drained from his face, his eyes fixed on the video.

Calling Matthew and forcing him to speak to his sister only for a few seconds—when she was clearly being manipulated and forced into the conversation herself—was bad enough. This was a whole different level entirely.

“Mr Holt?” Remdax called out enquiringly.

Katie Holt was slumped on the floor, back to the camera, fierce knots around her arms on display as someone grabbed her by the chin, forcing her gaze onto a data pad screen, holding her by the arms as she struggled.

Her clothes had changed since the video call, and the new segment had a caption message beneath it— _‘Do not leave the stage. You’ll receive contact information shortly._ ’—and a large torch hovered almost (already) too close to her face.

The kind used in cooking programmes to make the sugar on crème brûlée caramelise; the woman in the video could clearly hear it hissing and flaring as it flamed, trying to look over her shoulder, forced instead to watch this very broadcast. 

Seconds later, the phone rang, cutting off the video with an unknown caller screen; the woman quickly grabbed the phone, putting it to her ear.

“Colleen Holt speaking,” she said calmly, clearly, her voice firm. 

The hall plunged into silent chaos, reporters taking pictures, cameras flashing, and whispered narrations echoing around the room, each one of them trained on the woman taking Sendak’s call.

His own earpiece quickly tuned into the call, and Keith listened, straining his ear over the noise as the man gave his instructions. 

‘ _Thank you for showing Katie that your husband is indeed willing to be cooperative; I’m glad you could be so transparent for her,_ ’ Sendak said.

“Please, we’ve done what you asked,” Colleen begged, dismay in her voice. “Please, let me talk to her!”

 _‘Indeed you have,’_ Sendak said, a relaxed tone in his voice. ‘ _Katie’s been right here watching with me, and we’re both satisfied, so no harm will come to her for now. Tell your husband to keep working. You’ll speak with Katie in four days time. Quarter to six in the evening. Don’t forget.’_

Putting his finger in his open ear, blocking out the hubbub, Keith could hear his hostage’s muffled screams in the background, close to the phone.

‘ _Until then, I’ll be sure to keep you updated on her well-being. You can leave the stage now if you wish; you look a little pale Mrs Holt._ ’

The call ended, the room exploded with questions, and Keith quickly guided the couple off stage as Kolivan took over. Once they were beyond the speakers and recording cameras, the forced calm and dignity collapsed from them both.

Talking with their son and Romelle, who had waited off stage, and generally trying to calm and console each other as much as he could, Keith stomped on his urge to kick something until he could get home and take it out on his pillows or sofa cushions.

Regardless of the stress and removal of privacy and security that this had forced on Katie’s family, the entire case, Sendak had as good as screamed how much control he had over the situation.

It was _infuriating_. The witness testimony had brought them nothing. The cultists who had been arrested were too low-down in the hierarchy to know anything, only spouting their brainwashed drivel about the flaws of the soulmark, the clarity only they possessed, blah, blah, blah, none of it had helped.

Now they had to pander to the media too. He hoped fate’s whims were on Kolivan’s side, and that he could corral the chaotic mass in the conference room as he began to read off the number of the information hotline that had been set up. 

They needed Kolivan's press experience, and any help they could get. They needed something to follow— _anything—_ but until they could get the footage from the cameras, or find a way to trace Sendak’s call, Keith could only feel as helpless to do anything as the distraught family sitting mere metres away.

* * *

**PSA:** Sendak is a little bitch, and I hate him.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **TL;DR**
> 
> -Keith is waiting with Kolivan, Sam and Colleen to make a broadcast after Sendak called Matt.  
> -Security and staff is being investigated, and Keith thinks that they will need to run internal investigations amongst their own ranks.  
> -The press conversation starts; there has been a leak about a personal tragedy for the Holt family; Keith suspects its deliberate so that they can ease into the subject a little more.  
> –Keith snaps at a reporter who wants to know what ransom the purificationists have asked fo.  
> -As sam and colleen talk about discovering Katie's abduction, Sendak sends a video to colleen.  
> –It shows Katie sitting on the floor with her back to the camera; someone is forcing her watch the conference on a datapad, and is flicking a blow torch on and off just shy of her ear.  
> -Sendak calls Colleen and Keith listens in his earpiece; Sendak thanks Colleen and Sam for being transparent for Katie, and tells them that they will speak with Katie in four days time at 05:45.  
> –He then tells her they can leave the stage, as she looks a little pale.  
> –Keith is frustrated and feels helpless to do anything as he escorts the family off stage, and Kolivan takes over the conference, but without any more leads, knows there isn't anything he can do


	6. I Will Look In Your Eye

When the call arrived, it didn't go as badly as Keith had expected. After all the waiting and build up after the press conference, there had been an unsettled aura when the ring of the phone-call finally made itself echo through the case control hub.

It had gone well—Sendak had been satisfied with Mr Holt's progress, but as everyone had expected, he tried to weasel his way out of letting the Holts speak to their daughter, and avoid lengthy call time.

So Keith took a chance. Jumping into the call, interrupting the conversation, he made a bluff and threatened cutting Sendak off until he had been too angry to do anything but agree to some of their demands for a change. It had been a calculated risk, but it had got what they—and Katie—needed.

She and her family had an hour to speak, and Regris and the digital team had an hour to try and trace the call. 

He probably should have warned someone what he was going to do, but in fairness, he hasn't exactly planned it. He’d just gauged Sendak’s attitude in his conversation with Mr Holt, and how he acted around Katie during the call, and gone with his gut.

He hoped she recognised the apology he’d silently mouthed over the camera when Bogh had taken the blindfold off her—Keith knew it was bad to think about her perspective, that it brought him closer to the case than he knew was healthy—but he felt guilty, knowing the repeated cut calls would have scared her when she was dealing with Sendak’s ire.

Keith had been reasonably sure he wouldn't take it out on her. Not when he was currently going to such lengths to make sure they knew he was treating her ' _kindly_ ' (or at least with enough basic care, and enough concern for their perception of said 'care' that he tried to hide whatever injury had been sustained at the back of her neck), and was still uncomfortable with this process of negotiation.

Keith had been banking on his uncertainty, and was lucky it had worked, but he’d still felt guilty, and so, he’s given her the wordless apology before fetching her family. He didn't want the woman to think they had abandoned her, or really felt that she was expendable.

‘ _H-Hi…_ ’

Keith tried not to listen too closely as Katie Holt’s voice croaked out of the speakers towards her family; after all the effort it had taken to get it, the family deserved a moment of privacy before they started eavesdropping on everything they said and disassembling the recording for location clues.

‘ _…_ _Hi._ ’

Kolivan was glaring into the back of his head, and as the family had something as close to a reunion as they could get for the moment, Keith slowly made his way towards the back of the room where Kolivan was waiting, face hard and pained with patience, expectant of the explanation Keith knew he’d have to give.

“ _Keith_.” 

First names. Yep. Kolivan was as pissed off as Matthew and Mr Holt had been before they had been taken out of the room. 

“I’ve told you about warning me before you try things like that,” the older man said, his tone scolding, more than a little bit angry.

“It was spur of the moment, sort of,” Keith sighed. 

He knew that wasn’t an excuse, and was just glad Kolivan had enough faith in him to trust his judgement for moments like the one that had just passed with Sendak; even if he hated it when they weren't planned or discussed beforehand, he knew some things were just momentary decisions.

“I knew we needed to press him while we had contact, but he started twisting his rules with Mr Holt; it was going to be our best chance to set our own down.”

“It was reckless; I know this case has been frustrating, Sendak always is, but don’t let that cloud your judgement,” Kolivan said, and Keith let the abrasive comment act as intended.

It _had_ been reckless. He _knew_ that. He’d sort of felt sick of the manipulation and pandering Sendak had thus far forced them into, and would admit that it had probably not so much forced, but influenced his decision to try and scope Sendak out. 

He’d been prepared to tolerate it, always had before in other cases, until he watched the way the man casually grabbed hold of Katie’s face, gipped her neck and all but dangled his presumed control in their faces. 

It had infuriated him, watching the poor woman trying to pull her face away from his fingers, from the fear of being strangled again. More than it should have really, but he put it down to his professional pride taking a blow.

“You’ll apologise to the Holts after the calls have finished.” Kolivan said pointedly, and Keith nodded; he would have done that anyway, but acknowledged the order all the same. It wasn't as though he hadn't heard their distress, or understood it.

“Obviously,” He said, turning his eyes back to the screen for a moment; Torseth had returned with a glass of water, which he was helping the woman on the screen take sips of. 

“Well?” Kolivan prodded.

“He agreed to give them an hour every time he phones for contact with moderately limited privacy; Torseth is staying in the room so that we can’t ‘ _tell her how to escape_ ’, but not set contact days, unfortunately,” he said. “He claimed the injury was a result of Katie’s behaviour, not her father’s complicity, but I think he’ll have a lesser proclivity for violence around her now that he knows it’s been spotted.”

It didn't really sound like much, and it was mostly for the benefit of the Holts; they would have some sort of reassurance form Katie directly, but it also meant that Sendak couldn't just line up recordings and send them on. 

He’d all but had to promise Katie would be alive by the time his next call arrived; a dead woman couldn’t after all, take part in a live call. Pressuring him about his treatment of her would hopefully improve her own conditions a bit too.

That and even with a VPN, an hour gave Regris and the digital teams a chance to try and triangulate and follow a more stable signal. They might not get an exact location, but the chance of determining a search area was better. 

Maybe? Honestly, he had no idea what they needed to follow a signal, but more time to try things couldn’t be less than helpful, right?

“And what did you get from his reaction? Besides buying time for Regris and Katie?”

Keith frowned. Sendak hadn’t given away much but his reaction was so uncharacteristic—like all of his actions had been in this investigation, frankly—that it made him suspicious. “If he’d been working off his own steam, and really didn't want to deal with us, he wouldn't have. He’d have retaliated.”

Kolivan’s face was pained; Keith ignored him. He’d already been lectured. He knew he’d taken a risk, especially so early, but his gut hadn't led him wrong yet, and Kolivan knew how he worked well enough by now, that he didn’t take them unless he was confident. 

He didn't take the risk out of arrogance, but because he wanted to put pressure back on Sendak, and buy them more chances to find the sick fucker.

“I threatened to cut off all communications with the Holts and he absolutely panicked; Katie is his only bargaining chip, and she’s useless if he can’t get his end result,” he said. “I don’t think he has complete control of this; _his_ plans aren’t the ones he’s worried about.”

“You think this is linked to the cult hierarchy?” Kolivan raised an eyebrow; from him that was as good as going wide-eyed in surprise. 

“I think it’s a possibility,” Keith said. “We’ve known for a couple of years now that someone is organising it, and while Sendak is smart, powerful, he’s still got all the earmarks of someone who's following orders.”

Kolivan sucked in a breath. “...really don’t know why you didn’t go into the FCD or something,” he muttered. “I’ll speak to Brodar, see if I can't get some support in from National Crimes for the rest of the investigation,” he said. “Can you monitor the rest of the call?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “ _Without_ going rogue on me this time?”

Keith scowled at him, but nodded, and Kolivan slowly and quietly left the room to go wrangle with the intelligence department, leaving the quiet muted conversation between the Holt family the only sound to permeate the silence in the room.

* * *

But for the rapid typing of the people monitoring the call, trying to coax a signal, something, anything they could follow, the video call between the Holts and Sendak’s hostage could have been a normal, private conversation. 

After the initial tearful greetings and reassurances, all the emotion that could accompany such a reunion, the family talked about normal things. Passed on well wishes to the woman from her friends, including Romelle

She was worried her unique position in the family and police force would have a negative effect on negotiations, and so avoided the room. Instead of joining the family, she was sitting in the hallway with a pile of the tip lines, a job Kolivan had (with extreme reluctance) allowed her to work on after a very long staring contest Keith hadn’t seen the end of, but one which Romelle had obviously won. 

It could almost have been a family checking in on their daughter on a holiday, at college, or a business trip. The illusion of normalcy was broken only by the clicking of the furious media team as they tried to pin down the call signal, the bruises from the previous call on Katie’s neck, the ropes on her arms, and the screens that blurred the immeasurable distance separating her from her family.

Crossing the room, Keith trained an ear and an eye to the exchange of words, sitting down on an empty table top some distance away so he didn't interfere too much; while earlier he had pushed, now that they’d agreed to the time for Katie to talk to her family, it was best not to.

Families sometimes tried to coax details from their missing relatives in kidnappings in hopes of clues to find them, thinking they were helping. It didn’t always work that way, and he’d have to cut in if that happened.

“How’s your head?” Mrs Holt asked her daughter, her voice coaxing, gentle.

So far, Colleen had shown the most success in keeping calm through the previous stages of negotiation; she probably knew that losing it wasn’t going to do anything to help her daughter, and just as much that showing her own worry and fear wasn't going to reassure Katie right now. 

“That... _man_ …” she spat the word. “...he told us you had a concussion. Are you really alright?”

The woman on the screen made a face. ‘ _I am now,_ ’ she said finally. ‘ _The scab is healing over, since I can't really scratch at it,_ ’ she snorted, the sarcastic amusement a little forced. ‘ _It doesn’t hurt either; Bogh, he puts stuff on it, and I think it was more what he drugged me with that put me wrong. I heard him say they had to let me throw up in the car, but I don’t remember that part. It was after he’d given me a second dose, and after that, I can’t remember much of the first few days. Unless being sick counts._ ’

Her father’s face tensed, glowering at the man in the background of the video, but Keith's ears pricked. 

Car? Not Van? They had CCTV of a van, and Regris was still working on following it through the traffic cameras, but Katie had said ‘ _Car_ ’. Was that reliable memory? She had said her memory was foggy, but she specified a second dose, and that the memory loss had started after that…

Discreetly, Keith tapped out a message on his phone to Romelle, telling her to lookout for any reports involving a car (as well as a white van) while she pursued the hotline tips. It could be nothing. But it might be something too.

“Well I suppose that’s something,” Matt muttered, though he didn't sound as pleased as the words reluctantly suggested at all. 

“Aside from horrendously, how are they treating you?” Mr Holt asked. “I heard the Detective mention something else, another injury? Did something happen? They haven’t… your clothes…” he swallowed a lump in his throat. “Sweetheart, are they giving you _privacy?_ ” he stressed.

Keith watched the understanding morph on her face. It wasn't the first time Keith had heard that fear from her father, and having seen the woman in as much flesh as circumstances allowed now, he supposed he could understand why it was still sitting with him so strongly; _that_ particular kind of assault wasn’t unheard of as a form of torture, especially if... 

Keith glanced at the screen, taking in the shape of Katie Holts face, her eyes, the way her hair framed it (albeit messily), the lack of natural blemishes, even bone structure, the plump shape of her lips and button nose.

She was pretty. In an unassuming way, maybe, but still a woman most people would consider attractive, and all too often, those qualities from genetic lottery made people targets for such abuse. To her father’s relief she nodded, repeatedly. 

‘ _There’s nothing like that dad,_ ’ she said quietly. ‘ _I did think there might be cameras or something, but..._ ’ she frowned, thinking about her words, before looking over her shoulder at Torseth, unsure. ‘ _Hey! Hey, I need to ask something!_ ’ she yelled across the room.

Bogh barely blinked, not even looking up. ‘ _What?_ ’ he asked.

‘ _Are you going to shove that fucking rag back in my mouth if I talk about this stuff?_ ’ she asked, her tone wary but acidic; clearly, she had no love lost for her erstwhile bodyguard anymore.

‘ _Yes, immediately,_ ’ he said blandly, eyes not leaving his datapad. ‘ _I’m sure the details of your personal hygiene are going to have sirens blaring down upon us,_ ’ he added in a bored tone of voice.

The bodyguard was confusing. Based on his history he appeared to be a relatively new recruit to the cult, and he had no prior criminal record. A few speeding tickets. One overnight for being drunk and disorderly. That was it.

The only information on his personal life was that he was supposedly married to a woman named Ladnok Lowes, an online fashion columnist, but so far, they hadn't managed to track her down. They had two daughters, who were both attending boarding school in Altea. 

They also had a son, who was one of Katie’s friends, a university classmate who was apprenticed with one of Voltedge’s subsidiary companies by the name of Vrek Torseth. 

Ladnok had been confirmed as his soulmate by Matthew and Sam, though there was no recorded documentation. His parents had also been soulmates, recorded on the official registry. 

His wife’s too, though her mother was dead, and she was estranged from her father; there seemed to be some unpleasant history involved there, and Keith definitely wanted to look it up more, and interview the woman once she was found.

Unconcerned, Torseth turned his attention back to the datapad in his hand. ‘ _Don’t fret Princess, there’s nothing you can say that’s going to cut your time short; we’ve made sure of that._ ’

Satisfied, albeit scowling, Katie turned back to the screen. ‘ _It’s okay, no-one’s done anything like that,_ ’ she said, a bit more clearly now. ‘ _Bogh feeds me, and there’s a bathroom in the room they keep me in,_ ’ she added. ‘ _He unties me and I get locked in so I can go to the toilet and stuff. He packed a bunch of my clothes and wash things,_ ’ she said, a sickened laugh in her voice. ‘ _He even brought my fucking tampons,_ ’ she mumbled. ‘ _I checked it for cameras, but unless they’re in the walls, I couldn’t find any._ ’

Keith didn't know how much of a comfort that was for her father, but he seemed more reassured, and nodded, forcing a smile onto his face for his daughter’s benefit. 

“W-What happened?” her brother asked. “Your neck...”

The woman twitched, looking down a little. ‘ _When Sendak phoned you, at your lab office…_ ’ she faltered. ‘ _He was going to let me talk to you but I didn't want to help him blackmail dad…_ ’ she said. ‘ _…he was smoking. Said how long it had been since he spoke to you the first time. Reminded me what he said about tallies, so I changed my mind, and I agreed, but… he stuck me with it anyway because I hadn’t_ ‘learned to listen’ _or something…_ ’ she mumbled. ‘…t _hen he phoned you._ ’

There was silence for a moment; Matt’s face was white as a sheet, and after a few moments he stood up, hand on his face, running through his hair as he stepped away from the camera for a moment. 

‘ _Matt! Matt, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have told you!_ ’ his sister pleaded as Matt turned and headed out of the room. ‘ _I’m fine! That’s all he did! I mean, besides the thing the first time he called, but it’s okay! I’m fine! Bogh cleaned the burns and everything!’_ She panicked. ‘ _Matt! Matt, I’m sorry!_ ’

“Honey, honey, it’s okay, he’s not mad at you,” Her mother assured quickly. “It's just, hard. For him to hear that you were hurt like that before talking to him,” she explained, catching the young woman’s attention and panic before it could spiral. 

Keith turned his eyes through the glass door to the room, watching as Romelle and Matt spoke in low hushed voices, sitting together on one of the couches; Romelle seemed to be trying to say something encouraging, supportive, her face concerned. Matt glanced in the direction of his parents, arguing, but Keith had to turn his attention back to the call.

Forty-five minutes had already passed, and while he didn’t expect Sendak to show back up before the timer ended, there was a chance he could.

“...I know I can relate; it's scary, hearing what he’s done to you, because there's nothing we can do right now to stop it,” Colleen said, reassuring her daughter still, her tone even, tears on her cheeks despite her calm. “But he’s not mad. Not at you.”

“I know you're scared, you don't want to be in the position you’ve been forced into,” Mr Holt added, his tone gentle. “There’s absolutely nothing we want more than to get you away from all this; that's why I’m negotiating with that monster,” he said. “It’s not your job to protect us honey. We’ll be fine as long you get to come home at the end of all this,” he stressed. “There’s only so much we can do right now though, so please, don't antagonise him like that again.”

‘ _I wasn't trying to! In case you haven’t noticed he’s a psychopath dad! I changed my mind pretty fast!_ ’ she protested. ‘ _One minute I said I’d do what he wanted the next he decided to stab four days’ worth of cigarette ash into my neck!_ ’

“I know, I know that sweetheart,” her father smiled; Keith couldn't see it but he could hear it in his voice, the tint of pride. “But I know you too; I know how stubborn you are, and fierce, and brave, and I know right now, you _need_ to be all those things more than ever, but I need you to do as he tells you, okay?” he pleaded.

Katie looked stricken, horrified and sickened at the thought; that was normal. Every single instinct she had was probably telling her to fight her way out, run, or hide right now. The concept that listening to her captors might be a safer option wasn’t likely to be welcome. Especially not when they’d already treated her so violently.

“Your mother and I, Matt, if we could be there to help you, you know we would be, but we can’t…” he said, his voice shaking. “It won't be forever, but for now, I need you to protect yourself. I'm doing everything he wants, we are trying to find you; you _will_ make it through this, you _know_ it,” he said, and Katie’s expression flickered with something. Shock. Surprise. Recognition? “But until that happens, I need you to be _smart_ , like you always are sweetheart, Okay?” 

Katie looked outraged and relieved all at the same time, though the relief might have been more to do with her brother’s return. He slid down into his former spot in front of his parents again, shaken, but obviously apologetic and guilty

“Hey sis,” he said immediately. “I’m sorry, for running off on you like that. That was shitty, and you’ve got way more to panic about than I do; Mum’s right, I’m not mad at you, I promise,” he added. 

She choked. ‘ _I’m still sorry!_ ’ she insisted. ‘ _You shouldn’t have to—_ ’

“Stop, there’s _nothing_ you need to apologise for,” Matt said. “None of this is something _you_ need to apologise for Pidge,” he added, not giving her a chance to protest before he changed the subject. “But Dad’s right, and that police guy...” he trailed off, looking towards Keith.

Keith raised an eyebrow, realising he was asking for help; honestly, it would be better if she could avoid earning any of her captor’s ill will, especially if Sendak was as unpredictable and easily irritated as her own revelations, and the glimpse of the bandage when he answered Sendak’s last call attempt, suggested. 

If Keith had known about that, then he really would have thought twice about testing the man—they were lucky fate had been on their side for that particular moment. 

He gave Matt a nod.

“...he’s nodding too. I know you don’t want to but the safest option for you right now is to do what he wants; it’ll be easier for us too. Please, _don't_ give him a reason to hurt you.”

Katie’s expression kept crumpling, but she slumped, chewing her lip, and nodded. ‘ _Okay, okay,_ ’ she relented, blowing her fringe irritably so that it flicked off her face. ‘ _I’ll be careful._ ’

“I know it sounds horrible,” her father said, taking the conversation back. His eyes flicked up at the timer, which was now down to five minutes, and Keith could see his hands shaking. “I can’t imagine how hard this is for you, but it won’t be for long. I promise, and this time I'll keep it. It’s been a while since I took so much overtime but it’ll be good to work in the labs again instead of arguing over paperwork,” he added, trying to inject a little humour.

Katie, for her part, didn’t look like she appreciated the joke; ‘ _No! This isn't fair!_ _You shouldn’t have to do this! I don’t want you to! This isn’t right!_ ’ she protested, tears streaming down her face as Torseth began to tuck away his datapad behind her. ‘ _Dad please, don’t do what he’s telling you! He wants something to kill people with! You’ve never made weapons! That police guy is right! I'm not worth it!_ ’ 

Keith had no idea if that was her personal opinion, desperation, or just for the sake of the man crossing the room behind her as the timer dipped lower and lower, who would no doubt report their conversation back to Sendak if it wasn’t already recording it on their end.. 

Mr Holt gave her a smile. “There are probably a lot of people who would agree with DCI Hawkins, but I’m afraid I’m not one of them honey,” he said, sound the most relaxed he’d been all day. 

Torseth tapped her on the cheek as he approached, moving past her seat to putter around behind the screen somewhere. ‘ _Told you so Princess,_ ’ he said. ‘ _Better finish up before your time does._ ’

Katie stared at the man, then the screen, dismay on her face as she realised that the timer had dropped down to but a few minutes. ‘ _No, no, no, no, no… It can’t have been that long already! No! That’s got to be wrong!_ ’

‘ _I didn’t hack the clock Katie,_ ’ Torseth called out from somewhere. ‘ _You watched me set it. Hurry it up._ ’

At the back of the room he could see a door had already opened, and Sendak had appeared. Torseth quickly made his way over to him as the Holts tried to calm the panicking woman in the chair on-screen.

‘ _Is she done yet?_ ’ Sendak asked, voice low and his tone irritable.

‘ _Couple more minutes,_ ’ Torseth said, the blindfold in his hand. ‘ _Then Mr Holt will be hanging around, he’s already been told._ ’

“Katie, Katie, honey,” her mother called out, catching her attention. “You’ll speak to us again soon, okay?” There were tears on Colleen's face, and Keith tried not to watch too closely as the timer ticked. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but your father has to talk to Sendak. I love you Katie.”

‘ _No, no, no, I don’t want to say goodbye to you,_ ’ the young woman sobbed. ‘ _I want to come home…_ ’ Torseth made his way up behind her and she flinched, hearing the footsteps, looking up at the man. ‘ _Just a few more minutes! Bogh, please!_ ’

“The sooner I talk to him, the sooner you can,” Mr Holt promised, confident, sure; Keith didn’t know whose benefit the tone was for, his or his daughter’s. “Just remember what we told you. Be smart, and keep yourself as safe as you ca—”

There was a beep of the timer, and Torseth immediately began to wrap the blindfold back around her eyes. 

‘ _No!_ _Mum! Dad!_ ’ Katie cried out, thrashing her head against it as it was fastened. ‘ _Bogh, stop! Please! Mum! Dad!—_ ’ 

“We love you sweetheart,” Mr Holt said closed his eyes, turning his head from the screen. Someone, probably Regris, took over the sound, lowering it so that the family didn’t have to listen to the woman screaming in protest as her dire circumstances returned from the respite the call had provided.

Colleen fled the room when her daughter’s former bodyguard gagged her with a rag and pulled a strip of microfoam tape snug around her mouth and jaw. Matt followed her, an arm on her shoulders as she lost the false composure she’d been keeping up for Katie’s sake, soon joined by Romelle.

Bogh pulled his struggling charge from the chair, hauling her over one shoulder before with a nod and a last glance at the screen—‘ _Till next time Mr Hol_ _t_ ’—he walked away, taking Katie’s muffled protest with him.

There were precious few moments for her father to expel his anger and frustration in a hard exhale, wipe away the tears from beneath his glasses, to pause, to breathe, before Sendak settled himself comfortably into the seat where his daughter had just been sitting.

‘ _I trust you had a good conversation with your daughter Mr Holt,_ ’ he said, his tone no different than it had been at the start of the phone call. ' _Perhaps now that you’ve been… assured of her welfare, we can have one of our own?_ ’

Mr Holt’s knuckles turned white on the desk. "Of course," he nodded stiffly.

* * *

I mean, an hour was better than nothing? Right? Hope you enjoyed the chapter! 


	7. Know What I've Seen

The call ended as well as it could have, and Keith found himself playing re-runs of it for the rest of the night, long after Regris and the Holts had made their way home, for the next several days.

He mostly kept playing the part where Katie had mentioned the ‘ _car_ ’, and a few other parts, trying to determine the woman’s mental state; she seemed resolute in her dislike of the price her freedom was going to cost, but he suspected that was partially bravado, a method to protect herself.

The longer she stayed positive and rejected the notions, ideals, the plans of her captors, the longer she felt like she had some control, some distance from the environment she found herself in, but it was obvious to see that was all it was. 

The longer the call had gone on, the longer she’d been exposed to trustworthy faces, the easier it had been to see how back and forth her thoughts were already, not confused, but just how much her emotions were controlling what she said, influencing how she acted around Bogh and Sendak.

By the end of the call, the truth had outed her uncertainty, and it had been hard to watch; it wasn’t something that he’d ever get used to about his job; the distress and pain people could be in sometimes. 

Katie still seemed to have a moderate level of confidence, unusually, after a week of imprisonment. While she did have a lot of the signs of stress and trauma that a lot of kidnapping victims had, she still seemed positive, apart from that one moment at the end of the call.

He also wondered if her casualness with Bogh and willingness to be so honestly irritated with him came from familiarity, or his apparent role as her minder. It wasn’t a good way to gauge how well she acted with the other cult members who had been seeing the video besides Sendak.

Lahn Chase and Macidus Gal were both well-known faces, with different skill sets. Macidus was only slightly less problematic than Sendak, one of the cartel organisers, a former doctor who had become a known face after an attack on a local surgery in a bond purist area of Bluve. 

Lahn did more grunt work, but was very effective and had probably earned his way up in ranks by merit of being ‘ _useful_ ’ for minor jobs that while not flashy, were still essential. Like having a getaway vehicle ready.

Regris might not have had much success in trying to trace the signal that Sendak had been using for the videocall, but he had been much, much more successful in following the white van from the car park.

It had disappeared off the east by-pass out of the city once it got onto the main gridway, but they had a description, a clear shot of the number plate, and a direction to follow; that was much better than what they had several days ago. 

Teams from several cities and towns within County Olkaria were already investigating their traffic and local CCTV for anything that matched the plate registration.

It was, unfortunately, a hire, but the paperwork had been completed by Bogh several weeks before the fire, as if there weren’t any doubt already that he was a part of Sendak’s scheme.

It still meant hours of footage watching in a much wider area, which was another downside. It would take way too long to check every single camera on the east gridway and the by-pass.

There was always a chance the registration chip in the plate would be picked up automatically once the car hit a city grid network, or a new gridway, but if the car had had its registration chip deactivated, then even the national grid wouldn’t be able to help.

But Katie had said ‘ _car’_ , not ‘ _van'_ , and she hadn’t been drugged. Anxious, obviously scared, emotional, yes. But she hadn’t been incoherent to the point that she didn’t know what she was talking about, like the first call (not that she’d been able to contribute anything then either). She hadn’t reached that low of a mental stat—not yet. 

If he was right, and she wasn't confused, then the cars had been switched, and even if they found the microvan, if they couldn't follow the ‘ _car_ ’, their trail was dead.

Sendak was paranoid. He knew he was vulnerable as long as he remained in one place. There was no way he’d take the risk of being followed; Keith had spent most of the night wondering if he was overthinking, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

He wasn’t sure what time he fell asleep, watching the playbacks of the videos, but when he woke up, it was to a whining noise that could only be his dog. Blinking his eyes open, back screaming from his terrible positioning in his chair all night, he stared at the shepherd-husky-who knows what else mixed dog looking up at him with imploring eyes.

“You opened up your pen again, didn’t you?” Keith asked the dog suspiciously, looking around his desk for the box of dog food sachets and packet of treats Kosmo was clearly mooching for.

Exhaustion and reluctance to move was a terrible combination, and in a bid to stretch an arm and reach the drawer, he toppled from the chair with a yelp; Kosmo barked and barked, licking his face, before barking and whining before running off.

He really had to call maintenance to put some reinforcement on the lock on Kosmo’s pen downstairs, before Zethrid’s jokes that he had a ‘ _teleporting_ ’ dog actually started becoming believable and he ended up owning the department cryptid.

Sitting up, he heard footsteps following his dog’s returning barks, and as he pulled himself back up with the edge of his desk, Romelle’s head poked around the door. “You look like you slept well,” she said after a moment of raised eyebrows. “You slept here all night again, didn’t you?” she asked.

Keith stared at her. “Not intentionally?” he offered as his dog head-butted his stomach impatiently, whining for his treats again. Keith pulled open his bottom desk drawer and pulled out the bag of dog biscuit he kept there, gathering a scoop and carrying it over to the two dog bowls against the wall. “Why are you here so early?” he asked. “It's Sunday.”

“Pot. Kettle,” Romelle snorted, scratching Kosmo’s ears. “I kept throwing up and couldn’t get back to sleep; I thought I'd come in and get a head start instead of waking Matt up,” she said. “I was heading for the lift when this guy showed up.”

Keith frowned; Romelle was sick? No, he hadn’t seen her looking particularly ill at all, though he did remember she’d had doctor’s appointments. That didn’t mean anything though. People could look completely fine but have late stage terminal cancer. 

And judging by that thought, he had too much caffeine and not enough sleep

“I wanted to talk to you anyway, so I figured I’d better follow him and make sure you hadn’t died from a caffeine overdose or something,” she added, sitting down on the desk and opening up her backpack. “I took some of tip sheets home to work on overnight, and I found something you might want to see,” she said pulling them out, distracting Keith from his initial curiosity about her ailments.

The piece of paper she handed to him was from another station, dated from around… two weeks ago? Keith frowned and looked at the details of the printout his eyes scanning the essential information quickly.

It had been filed at Griezian City’s police force, and the accompanying 555 call had been logged at 02:45am, but it hadn’t been processed for over a week? He persevered though, following the rest of the report. 

It had come up again, this time called in on the eve of the press conference to Marchanda’s police department, identical to the first report:

**GRIEZIAN CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT** **  
****CRIME REPORT #77653**

> **Officer:** Lt. Herbert Robertson
> 
> **Crime Reported:** _Kidnapping._  
>  **Date of Crime:** _06_ _th_ _July 2230._  
>  **Location:** _Sur Forestry Commission Car Park_.  
>  **Time:** _02:45am_. 
> 
> **Witness:** _Ryner Stirling_.  
>  **Date of Birth:** _14_ _th_ _October 2152 (77 years old)_.  
>  **Address:** _Kúbik Lodge, Sur Forest, County Olkaria, Marchanda_. 
> 
> **Report:** _Witness observed two men kidnapping a young woman in the forestry commission car park near her home, Tuesday, 6_ _th_ _July, 2230, at 02:45am. The two men left the area in a dark land rover. The men, one of which she named as ‘Lahn’ were described as tall,broad shouldered men. The woman she describes as young, with light brown hair, potentially named Kate, Claire, or Katie—_

Keith stopped reading and took a moment to seethe over the unfortunately common delay in paperwork transmission throughout his professional career, then stared at Romelle. “Please tell me you already called Kolivan,” he pleaded, picking up his phone, rooting through the report for the contact details of the witness.

“He said he’d be in, but to tell you so that we can head out and interview this woman directly; he’ll send a team out behind us. He’s calling Griezian City now to get their evidence sent down,” Romelle said, picking up his jacket, and Kosmo’s lead. “We can take my car.”

“Are you going to be okay driving?” He asked, scrapping to his feet, grabbing his datapad and backpack and following. “You said you’d been sick.”

Romelle nodded. “I drove here, didn’t I?” She asked. “Morning sickness isn’t going to kill me, it’s just pissing me off because I can’t get a good night’s sleep, and Matt threw out all our coffee.”

Keith nodded, taking his leather jacket as he squashed his phone to his ear, listening to the ring and ring and rind before he stopped and thought about Romelle had just told him.

“Wait, you’re pregnant again?” he blurted. “Since when? _‘Melle!_ You can’t just drop something like that into conversation out of nowhere!”

Romelle stuck her tongue out at him as they made their way along the hallway, talking Kosmo’s lead and rushing for the doors out to the carpark before he could get a word in edgeways.

With just as much sass, she pulled the material her billowy blouse at the back with one hand, revealing a very noticeable bump.

‘ _Hello, Ryner Stirling speaking,_ ’ a woman’s voice said calmly.

Keith glared at his grinning ex-academy classmate, before throwing that particular bombshell out of his mind for the moment; priorities. He had priorities.

Potential leads for the biggest case of his life—thank fate's mercies, a potential witness, _finally_ , something substantial, please, let it be something substantial—first. Explanations from his friend on impending motherhood later.

“Hello Ms Stirling, this is DCI Keith Hawkins from Marchanda Constabulary,” He started, hurrying after Romelle. “I’d like to speak to you regarding the 555 call you made last week, and the follow up report you filed with Griezian City police; would it be possible to speak to you sometime today?”

* * *

The drive out to Griezian City was long and before falling asleep from caffeine exhaustion and overwork (probably) Keith had plenty of time to grill his friend on her sudden, jaw dropping news.

“How long have you known?” he asked first.

He didn’t know where to start with the shock and questions. Romelle had been told she would have difficulties having children when she was young, something proven when she lost her first baby. She had been off work for a long time afterwards, and it was only recently that she had been back.

At least the news made sense in regard to Kolivan’s sudden crazy streak; whenever someone had surgery, or pushed themselves, or in Romelle’s case, handed him an application for parental leave, he panicked. Usually brilliantly, and _hilariously_ , for anyone not on the receiving end.

Not because he was an emotionless stone, but because the idiot pictured every inconceivable horror remotely possible in response, everything that could go wrong, and tried to wrap his staff in cotton wool.

Not only was Romelle close to the victim in their main case, her husband was also a suspected target of a of the same crime; if it got out she was pregnant, and Sendak wanted a cheap shot… well, Keith could see where Kolivan’s brain had headed. 

Never mind all the chemicals in the lab and on-scene running around that for all their superintendent knew, could be potentially hazardous to a growing cluster of cells.

Keith trusted Romelle to know what was good for her own body and what wasn't, but was not at all surprised that Kolivan had reacted like a dumb idiot the same way he did when Tabor had an appendectomy, and he refused to let the man go anywhere near a crime scene for six weeks _after_ he’d come back from his sick leave.

“I’m just going into month five,” Romelle said. Behind them in the backseats, Kosmo snoozed contentedly, the bag of treats from Keith’s desk torn open and completely empty in one of the footwells. “It happened when I went to Bluve to help the forensics team in Arus with one of their cases. Matt had a conference at the same time so we booked holidays and went to the Holts’ lake house after it. We were waiting to tell everyone until… well until I was further along. I was scared to, and it was so soon to get pregnant again. For a while, I didn't even want people to know, I’m not much further along than when I lost Bryan but... with everything that’s happening, it didn't feel right to keep it quiet.”

“So, you’ve been to your scan and stuff?” he asked curiously. “How’s Matt handling it? With everything? Did he know before?”

Romelle bit her lip, moving them into a second lane to take the turn off from the main gridway that would take them more directly to Griezian City. “He knew,” she nodded. “He’s been great; he was so excited to tell everyone. We were going to do it at our anniversary party but…” she trailed off. “Well, obviously that plan went downhill pretty fast—Katie doesn’t even know and… I can't tell Matt, but I’m scared I’ll never get the chance to tell her. She helped me so much after we lost Bryan and... ”

Her tone dipped, and Keith squeezed her hand on top of the gear stick; he didn’t really know that much about Romelle’s in-laws before this, but he had at least worked out that she was close to Katie. She’d mentioned meeting Matt through her already. She gave him a grateful side-smile before he pulled his hand back as she started setting up for an overtake. 

Keith wasn’t sure what he could say to reassure her. He couldn’t give Romelle the same words they were trained to give to families, that they had Matt and his parents, because Romelle would see straight through them. 

How many times did she have to bring people into the morgue to ID an unnamed body? How many times did she have to identify how someone had died just by the marks on their skin, the breaks in their bones?

Keith knew he couldn’t just tell her that they were working hard and that things were progressing well either. Romelle knew better. It had been fifteen days already since Katie had been kidnapped, and while her survival chances had increased with the extended time period, that safety was very much relative.

“With any luck, this Ryner lady will have something we can follow, then maybe you can tell her before you burst,” he offered. 

Romelle snorted, but it was in amusement. “Maybe I can finally introduce you both; you do realise I’ve been trying to get you to meet my in-laws for nearly ^ _hree years_ now?”

Keith flinched, not quite sure how to respond to his friend’s mutterings. “Sorry?” he offered, flicking his eyes to a pop up article on his phone; he rolled his eyes at the dumb ‘ _Ten Unbelieveable Ways Animals Can Help You Find Your Soulmate!_ ’ title in the notification before opening it anyway.

> **Unique Scents for Unique Bonds!** _Dogs with particular scenting talents are thought to be able to smell soulbonds within a 10 metre radius! Studies have shown that..._

“Ugh!” Romelle huffed. 

It didn’t take long once they were out on the main grid way for Keith to fall asleep; a few words of the stupid article already had his eyes drooping. He woke a couple of hours later, just as they were reaching the boundaries of the Griezian City grid. 

City was a strong name for the town though; at best, it had just under three thousand people, and it didn’t take long to find the station. It just took forever to find a parking space. After a hike through the city centre from the car, they then had to deal with the undermanned reception and a very relaxed working atmosphere in regard to the officers in charge themselves.

By the time they got back to the car with the reports and had spoken with the rather bored looking detective who had followed up on the emergency call from Ms Stirling, both he and Romelle were in dire need of energy and overflowing with angry words for all the pieces of unnecessary paperwork needed to take over a crime scene from another department’s jurisdiction.

Even Kosmo noticed their unpleasant mood, because he wound around both of them whining when they finally reached the house on the address that had been provided in the report for Ms Stirling. 

They passed the car park mentioned in the same report, still cordoned off with digital ticker tape barriers. Forensics had already swarmed the area, and Ezor waved at them as they passed through the gate, onto the drive to Ms Stirling’s house, before disappearing inside a white tent that had taken over most of the area.

Beyond the barriers were what looked like the first of the reporters catching wind of a potential development on what was currently the trending story of the day.

They knocked on the door to the house, and the elderly woman who answered the door let them both inside to a kitchen, where Keith went through his full questions with her, clarifying what was said in the report, going through the things that had already been recorded to make sure he had the details right (after the trip to the Griezian City department, he’d rather not take the chance they had done their job right and miss something). 

“The report says you saw a dark land rover type leaving, heading east off-grid,” he started. “Can you by any chance recall the number plate?” he asked.

The woman, who had brown hair in a tight ponytail, nodded, getting to her feet. “I was worried they might not catch everything when I called, so I wrote it down along with everything I saw when I got home,” she sighed. “It didn't help the man from Griezian City that came by kept asking me if I’d forgotten to take any medication, ” she explained, going to a notepad sitting on a cookery book stand and returning to her chair with it. “Not that I blame him; it’s a quiet area, I’m an old lady, and it was the wee hours of the morning. I would have thought I was making it up too.”

“You made a second report later on?” Romelle asked. “Direct to Marchanda Constabulary?”

“Yes,” Ryner nodded. I was watching the conference about the bombing,” she said, tearing the top few pages off of her notepad. “When the Chief Superintendent announced the information hotline at the end, alongside the picture of Katie; I was certain she was the same woman I’d seen, so I immediately phoned the hotline.”

Keith took the pieces of paper like they were made of gold and precious gems, scanning his eyes over the notes on each side; it was rough, but the information was well detailed. 

Ryner has included everything from estimates of the two men’s ages, their height, the sound of their voices, the name ‘ _Lahn_ ’ of one. Things she’d heard them saying.

The description of exactly what she had seen—the young woman screaming, trying to call out for help, before being gagged and drugged, and locked in the boot of a dark land rover. The details of the number plate.

“I tried to write down everything I could,” Ryner told them, her voice a little shaky. “I wanted to do more, but I was sure that if I’d confronted them I wouldn't have been much help for that poor girl, even with Rover, but…” she frowned, and Keith handed the list over to Romelle (who was nosing at it over his shoulder). “...I felt horrible, hiding like that while she was screaming for help.”

Her voice cracked and he and Romelle waited while she dabbed at the corner of her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt.

“You did the right thing Ms Stirling,” he told her, gently. “Without knowing who they were, it was safer for you to stay unnoticed,” he assured her. “And if these people are the Purificationists linked to the Holt case, then they were very dangerous people, and it was _still_ the right decision; what you’ve told us will go a long way in helping us potentially locate Miss Holt. Is it alright if we come back in the future to confirm your statement, or ask any more questions as part of our follow-up?”

“Of course!”

They left the house with a much more detailed written report, and Ms Stirling’s note of events sealed in a small bag, tucked safely in the inside pocket of Romelle’s coat. Pulling out of the long driveway back to the road, towards the track leading to the car park, the gate, and the barriers keeping the press and gathering crowd of curious locals away from the area.

While local police had already taken some evidence, there was still a chance of something being missed.

From what he remembered of his quick glance at the Griezian forensics report, they hadn’t checked the van with the same stringency they had the tracks and local cameras.

The team did have a few missing cases already and had been pursuing the information base on possible links to those, not a kidnapping that would have already have taken place over a hundred miles away; Ms. Stirling also hadn’t seen Bogh and Lahn using the microvan, so hadn’t included it in her initial report of the incident.

Slowing as Ezor hurried over to the car, some of the officer’s keeping the swarm of reporters and cameras away, Romelle set the hand break, window sliding down. “Anything new?” she asked her co-worker hopefully.

“I think we have DNA evidence,” Ezor nodded, taking them to an impromptu desk where several piles of pictures were already printing from a computer. “Ilun found blood on the inside of the floor of the van, not to mention several strands of hair, long hair. “We’re running checks for fingerprints still, but we checked the plate already and it matches the ones from the videos Regris pulled last week,” she said.

Keith felt his stomach flutter as the solidity of the lead echoes around them with Ezor’s confirmation. _Finally_. This was something they could _use._

“Did Regris get the new plate and description?”

Ezor nodded. “He’s looking all that up now, but you should probably give him a call while you guys head back,” she said. “Safe trip!”

Romelle nodded, and Keith gave Ezor a wave as the car set off again, making it through the crowd of press after a few minutes. Taking the east turn back to the main gridway, and back to Marchanda, Keith began tapping away on his datapad.

The majority of the work would be in forensics and on Regris again, but there were things he could check from the car hire itself; follow up bank card details, the address registered with the account Bogh had made, not to mention chase up CCTV of the booking, or a call recording.

He wasn’t completely without things to entertain himself with; they could even cross-check against some of the arrests; it didn’t always work out, but sometimes younger, newer cult members could be persuaded to talk.

Depending on their roles, they had confirmed the work of more senior members through lackeys and recruits in the past. He’d have to call Zethrid and make sure she knew about the microvan hire, and the new number plate.

With significantly higher spirits in spite of the new workload, he and Romelle sat and traded titbits and ideas back and forth, the distance back to Marchanda almost shrinking to nothing as their thoughts turned deeper into the search.

* * *

They're getting there. MVPs are still Ryner and Rover, but baby steps.


	8. Where Else My Heart Could Have Been

“...You’re sure you’re going to be okay?” Keith asked over the comms on the inside of his helmet.

Rain lashed against the eye screen and over the dash of his hoverbike as he waited for the lights to change; it was the onslaught from the back end of a storm that would within hours be pelting down on his hometown without love nor mercy.

‘ _Keith, we might be out in the middle of nowhere, but buildings haven’t been destroyed by a storm since before your grandfather was born. We might get a couple of broken fences and a window, but that’ll be it._ ’

Keith knew that. No-one had died from storm onslaughts for years. Underground shelters had been developed. Buildings adapted. The world had learned and grown, but the danger was still there, and he’d already lost one parent to bad luck and forces still beyond absolute control. He didn’t want the same to happen to his mother too.

“I know, I know; but the big ones like this don’t come often. I’m worrying over nothing but...” he sighed, kicking off from the lights as they changed. “...it's been three weeks now; this case is driving me a little crazy, so I’m probably channelling that into needless worry. When is it due to hit you?”

‘ _It should get here this Thursday through to next Wednesday,_ ’ His mother’s tone was warm with affection. ‘ _I’m not worried about the house, but fate’s mercies, the noise is intolerable,_ ’ she sighed. ‘ _Are you taking care of yourself honey? I’ve been watching the news, so you don’t have to tell me anything, but you’re sleeping properly? Eating?_ ’

“I stopped at the office overnight the past few days,” he said reluctantly. “But Kosmo needs a bath and he keeps getting out of his pen and the handlers were getting grumpy, so I’m going to head home once I’ve checked in on one last thing.”

‘ _Keith…_ ’ his mother’s voice was exasperated as he flicked on the indicator lights, pulling out to overtake the dark black van in front of him. ‘ _You need to go home for more than just your dog,_ ’ she chided. ‘ _Look after_ yourself _too_.’ 

She paused, and Keith sensed she was about to say something unrelated to his bad habit of neglecting personal needs when he got focused on a case. 

As he waited, he let the grid help guide him through the streets towards the outskirts of the city. Behind him, in his adapted seat, Kosmo’s hood had pulled up over the seat, to give him a bit of shelter from the horrendous weather.

Some progress had been made on the case, and he’d got a call as he was leaving the office from Romelle; they had had another update from Sendak, something different. Another video. He was currently on the way to the safe house to get a look for himself.

Besides this video, a hire permit had traced the micro-van to a reasonably sized company in the industrial district of Marchanda. One of the assistants listed on the application had confirmed offering the rental to Bogh, and the company had provided their own security footage of the day he’d claimed the micro-van.

It had been sent up along with any sightings of the car Ryner had identified to Regris and his team of more digitally aware fellows in the media lab; Kolivan had finally relented and let Romelle back into the forensics lab, and she’d helped make quick work on the DNA evidence left behind at the Sur Forest car park.

They had found fingerprints on the handles, one set matching those of Lahn Chase, which was already recorded on the system from a minor infraction when he was in his early twenties, and another from Bogh. A third set on the walls of the van, smaller, were potentially Katie’s.

They had also double checked the dried blood that had been found on the floor against samples from a hairbrush in Katie’s penthouse, and confirmed between the two samples, as well as cheek swabs from Colleen and Matt.

The confirmation that she had been in the van not only put priority on locating the second van, but it also gave them a timeline to work with, thanks again to Ryner’s information.

It didn’t really help with finding her, but later on, it would be useful to know when and where events happened. It was also invaluable for any court proceedings, if they got that far with the case. Keith still didn’t want to hope too much.

Sendak really wasn't messing around this time. Before he’d slipped up on occasion, or taunted them with hints of his location, almost daring them to try and follow him; this time he’d taken every precaution he could think of to try and contain information.

It didn’t help much when his limited phone calls to Mr Holt had been indicative of some frustration with the progress, despite all the updates Sam had been sending him on the blueprints so far.

The interrogations had been completed, and based on everything Zethrid and Tabor had found, none of the Purificationists involved in the main attack at Voltedge had known about the kidnapping. They had only been involved with the attack simply because it was in line with the cult beliefs and desires to disinherit Soulmarks of their value to modern society.

The hours of footage had yielded something though; the car that Mrs Stirling had informed them of—number plate CZ71 MCH—had been linked to a Marchandan address.

It had been hard to find, hidden and for most places deleted, but Regris and a man named Antok Duvall had unearthed an old copy of an ownership and purchase file from the used-hovercar dealership. 

Initially bought within the city itself, an address had been attached. A digital paper trail that hadn’t quite been scraped from the bowels of the web.

After several long hours of angry shouting, phone calls by the dozen, and a lot of grumbling from their enraged Chief Superintendent’s office, the man had been sent to help with their tracing and assist their behavioural analysis from the NCD, the National Crimes Department..

Antok had had once been Kolivan’s partner before transferring from the police, and watching them interact so seamlessly was both kind of scary and a little inspiring.

He quickly pointed out several aspects of Sendak’s character, as well as Katie’s that while not entirely relevant, put lights on in places Keith had not expected to even find any. He was determined to pick up as much as he could from the man before he left. 

Kolivan on the other hand remained irritated, muttering about Brodar being an ‘ _unreasonable twerp_ ’ who didn’t understand how serious the investigation was.

Keith figured that meant he hadn’t got as much assistance as he was hoping for from the NCD, but Antok was still better than nothing at all, and he’d made short work of the file.

The resulting safe house they had found had yielded some very interesting information. Amongst the rubble and general destruction within the abandoned, torched house there had been hard drives. Mostly ruined, but they had been tucked away beneath the piles of debris.

Following up on the recent police reports, and a phone call to Blaytz at the fire department to check them against the call out records, the fire had been recent, about three weeks or so before the attack at Voltedge.

It ground Keith’s teeth on edge, because it was a site they had investigated and initially written off as a simple civilian attack. There had been several larger, more prominent attacks at the time, and so it had not received the same attention. Those other attacks now reeked of being another distraction, and they had bitten right into it.

The hard drives hadn't been a total loss though; aside from a few hints to locations that could be potential hideouts, there was data suggesting that—as he and Kolivan suspected—Sendak was acting under a senior level of command within the cult.

Messages discussing the acquisition of neutraliser designs were found;. It did not unfortunately discuss the names involved, recovering that much was beyond even Regris and his team, but it was still a massive step up, simply for the sake of a single line in one message; ‘ _Flexibility won’t be your friend this time; stay where you have familiarity to assist you._ ’

It was cryptic, but Keith was sure it meant somewhere in County Olkaria. It was the biggest foothold for Purificationists, and where the majority of Sendak’s attacks had taken place. 

It was familiar territory, and though he had been seen many times beyond its boundaries the information suggested that Sendak’s main location was still within their own borders, something the teams involved had never managed to find any reliable suggestions towards in past investigations.

He had no evidence as such yet, but Keith's hunch told him Sendak was still in Terra, maybe even still in County Olkaria.

There had been another message with an update to when Sendak would contact them to Matt. Hopefully, provided Sendak followed the negotiations and gave the Holts another hour with Katie, they would be able to confirm a bit more on the signal location in the next call.

‘ _...I know you feel like you have to prove something,_ ’ his mother continued as he turned off into the housing district that had been logged into his satnav before departing from the station. ‘ _But you don’t_ ,’ she stressed. ‘ _Everyone here is proud of you, you know? You’re a good person honey, like your father was. Don’t run yourself into the ground to prove something for someone you’ve never met, okay?_ ’

“It’s not _that_ mum,” he sighed, pulling into a hover bay. “My words have _nothing_ to do with this. It the fact that we’ve been chasing the tail edge of this attack for months before it happened, and we didn’t see it,” he sighed. “We have a chance to catch him now; we can’t afford to miss it. Sendak is… If we can catch him, it’d be a huge blow for the cult.”

He climbed off his bike, waiting for Kosmo to jump down from his passenger seat before turning on the locking mechanisms and letting it float gently into the bay, and lock into the charging stations.

“I just… feel like this is our chance to get him, I don’t want to miss it,” he said. “And if it helps Mr and Mrs Holt get their daughter back, so much the better. All the people from the fire will get some justice too,” he added. “I have to go. Let me know when the storm is through, okay?”

‘ _Alright, as long as you look after yourself too’_ she said fondly (though Keith he heard her mutter ‘ _I swear I taught him how to, but sometimes I wonder if he was listening,_ ’ to his would-be-step-dad, Thace, in the background). ‘ _Take care honey, love you!_ ’

‘ _Bye Keith!_ ’ Thace called out. 

“Love you too,” he said. “Bye.”

He tapped the comms button on his helmet, ending the call before pulling it off and quickly rushing up to the intercom system at the main door, rain pelting his biking leathers. 

The buzzer sounded almost immediately when Keith showed his badge to the camera, and he slipped in through the doorway without any hassle from the guards.

Making his way inside, he was almost immediately greeted his blonde friend once through the doorway. She’d popped a bit of more obvious baby-belly since the trip to Griezian City, and worry was haunting the otherwise happy time. 

He hadn’t seen the excitement becoming a grandparent ought to bring on Sam and Colleen, or the happiness on Romelle's face that she ought to be having with the good progress she’d been having with her second child. She was still considered high risk, but had told him she didn't have nearly half the problems at this stage as she did with Bryan.

“Hey,” he greeted, opening his arms out for a hug at the sight of exhaustion on her face. “Thanks for calling; what time did it arrive?”

“A few minutes before I phoned you,” Romelle said, returning the embrace for a moment before closing the door behind him, and giving some scratches to Kosmo as he sniffed and whined curiously at her. “I've already forwarded it to Regris and Kolivan,” she said. “I figured you'd either be at the office or on the way home.”

“We were about to head home,” Keith nodded, following her through the entrance hall off to a large, sleek, spacious living room with large glass windows overlooking the rest of the city. 

Matt looked up from the news coverage of the investigation as they entered the room, smiling a little in greeting before turning off the television screen and pulling his phone from his pocket and handing it to him as he sat down.

Kosmo leaned his head on Matt’s knee as Keith started the video, eyes focused on the small screen, eyes imploring him for scratches, and Matt only lasted a few minutes before he caved to the attention seeking.

It was the same room as the other photos and videos, though the view was broader. The mattress Katie was lying on was tucked into a corner, a normal double in size; there was a boarded-up window along one wall, a door on the opposite, and the walls were fully covered in black insulating foam—soundproofing.

Katie’s clothes had changed again, from the tie-dye jumper in the last picture to black jogging pants, a mustard-coloured t-shirt and a dark green cardigan.

Someone else was holding the camera again, and it was trained on Bogh as he cut through the ropes first on her legs (much to the woman’s apparent confusion), then her arms and wrists. Then the gag came off, with a few coughs and splutters as Katie backed herself away from the closing camera into the corner, spitting a rag out of her mouth. There was also a monstrous, purple bruise on her face that was impossible to miss.

‘ _Hey, what’s all this?_ ’ Bogh’s voice said, grabbing into her arm before she could turn away. ‘ _Remember what I told you about talking to Sendak; do your part too, Katie.’_

Her face twisted, clearly conflicted, before she gave up whatever protest had been planned. Then, with extreme reluctance, she lifted a hand and waved it listlessly at the camera. ‘ _…Hi Matt,_ ’ she mumbled.

‘ _Riveting Princess,_ ’ Bogh scoffed, sitting down against the wall and pulling out a datapad again. ‘ _But if you don't want to chat, fine, that's up to you._ ’

Katie glared at him; while she didn't quite look complacent, she looked tired, and as if to mimic his thoughts, as the person holding the phone moved, handing it back to Bogh, Keith caught a glimpse of her curling up on the mattress.

‘ _I thought she might feel more like talking,_ ’ Bogh said to the camera, his face filling the screen. ‘ _Her head is more or less healed up, and she earned herself a breather today, but I guess not. Sorry Matt. You’ll have to wait till next Saturday, unless she’s in a better mood before then. See you!_ ’

“I don't understand it,” Matt said, his tone anxious after Keith handed the phone back to him. “Why are they untying her?”

Keith sighed, stretching his arms over his head. “It's a mental thing, for your father, and Katie; they’re showing her compassion, relatively, to make it easier for your father to see that Sendak is keeping his terms, so he keeps working on the plans they want, but it’s demonstrating their control at the same time,” Keith explained. 

“I got that,” he nodded. “But what do you mean it's a mental game for Katie too?”

“Did you notice she didn't scream or fight?” Keith asked—Matt blinked, but nodded away his surprise. “She’s doing what they’re telling her to,” he continued. “That supposed compassion tricks her into thinking she’s a bit safer, that if she does as she’s told she’ll be safer from them. Even if she knows it’s not genuine, after being isolated for so long it’ll be hard for her _not_ to respond to that ‘ _kindness_ ’ by doing what they want her to.”

“But couldn't that be because of what dad said to her? To keep her head down? And isn’t it a good thing?”

Keith waved a hand from side to side. “It might be part of it, going by what you and your family have told me about her,” he conceded. “But Bogh said that she’d ‘ _earned herself a breather_ ’, and to me that suggests her behaviour is becoming more accommodating to them,” he sighed; that wasn't a good sign in terms of the woman’s mental health.

Matt frowned. “I don’t understand.”

Keith held out a hand and Matt handed him back the video, and he played it until it reached a full shot of his sister before she’d curled up towards the wall. “Physically, her condition is passable for Sendak’s requirements,” he explained. “But in terms of an escape attempt? They’re poor. She’ll be feeling muscular fatigue and weakness in her limbs from lack of use, and being restrained this long.”

“There’s the stress too,” Romelle added. “All of this will be exhausting emotionally as well as physically; she might be having trouble sleeping, not to mention the general stress of being in an unfamiliar environment, being around people she knows will do her harm if they are motivated the wrong way, and without any means of really protecting herself, and that's only what we can guess from the footage.” 

Keith nodded. “It's an enormous amount of stress for anyone to go through, but she’s not incapable of thinking or walking. Not yet. If she thinks of trying to escape, it’s still something that with the right circumstances, she might be able to accomplish,” he said. “They’re slim, but possible as long as she _thinks_ she can pull one off or feels confident enough to try.”

He paused and played the video again, letting Matt watch as she turned towards the wall. “However,” he continued. “That only remains an option as long as she has the confidence to think about it though; it isn’t really a good idea, so I hope she isn’t just playing a waiting game, but her response to this sort of thing is a good way to gauge her mental condition while communication is so limited.” 

“You think she’s starting to get... used to it? Complacent?” Matt asked.

Keith nodded. “In a sense; at the least, it tells us they aren’t as worried about her trying to escape anymore.” he explained. “If Sendak remotely suspected that, there would be no way he’d allow this for something as menial as an update for you.”

“It is a good thing, in the long run,” Romelle said, almost like she was repeating her own training to herself rather than trying to reassure Matt. “The longer kidnappings last, the higher the chances of survival for the victims get, there’s a bigger chance of humanising themselves toward the kidnapper” she reasoned, an arm around his back affectionate and reassuring. “Katie’s smart. She was unsettled before, but she’s had time to adjust, learn more since you spoke to her babe,” Romelle said. “She knows that if she’s stopped making herself a target, they’re less likely to hurt her.”

“Probably,” Matt snorted. He sat back, rubbing his face with his hands. “I’m going to go call mum and dad…”

“Where are they, your parents? Out of curiosity?” Keith asked.

He’d been worried how Mr and Mrs Holt would feel about him being around when Romelle initially called him, only, he hadn’t seen them around the house at all.

“They went to see our grandparents,” Matt said. “They don’t want them to be kept out of the loop but granddad’s has heart problems. We didn’t think it would be good for him to be here dealing with all of this,” he sighed. 

Keith didn’t miss his use of ‘ _our_ ’ instead of ‘ _my_ ’. Like his sister was there in the room with them, and he wondered if it was deliberate, or out of habit.

“How is your dad?” Keith asked. “I can guess so much at the station, but how are you _all_ holding up? I know he’s been working with the plans recently.”

Struggle was an understatement; the phone calls to the man had been filled with impatient demands, threats and promises that had only added to Mr Holt’s stress since the call with Katie, and he was spending a lot of time in the labs at the Voltedge research building that had become its temporary headquarters.

Matt paused for a moment. “He’s struggling. Mum and I are… tired, but better than dad. We’re trying to help him as best we can, but there’s only so much we can do. I can help him with the coding, but Katie always took more to the practical tech more than me,” he sighed. “He’s hit a block on this design, I can tell,” he continued, plate abandoned on the arm of the sofa. “This isn’t something to improve network connectivity or something else harmless, it’s a weapon. He’s not into munitions development, and it’s not what the neutralisers were designed for; he’s having trouble approaching his own designs like that. He’s worried about what’s going to happen when they realise he’s just going in circles. Katie’s not…If he thinks she’s giving up…” 

Matt broke off, struggling to put his thoughts into words. 

“He’s worried about them hurting her, but I think he’s more worried about how it’s going to affect her, psychologically,” Romelle said quietly. “I am too, a little; Katie’s pretty fierce and she doesn’t run scared from things, and she far from stupid but… she’s been kind of sheltered, and she’s just headstrong enough to put herself in danger without realising it.”

Matt scowled a little. “And whose fault is that?” he asked, with a tone that suggested on-going private family friction had developed a head in the recent tension they were going through. “Even mum told him he was going too far when they hired Bogh ‘Melle! The reason this is happening is because he was so damn paranoid in the first place!” 

“Matt, you _know_ you don’t mean that,” Romelle frowned. “You said the other day you understood where he was coming from; you said at least fate was kind enough to take Bryan before we really knew him, and you were right.”

Matt flinched, pulling at his ponytail awkwardly in the silence and the tension that followed until Romelle took his hands and they exchanged a short, murmured conversation, and some of the tension dropped from his face.

“Just tell them what I told you if that helps,” Keith offered, hoping to calm any resentment before it could spill out by accident to a near-stranger. “The jist of it is fine if you don’t want to talk about it too much. I’ll speak to them all tomorrow anyway.”

Matt bit his lip, his face tense, before he exhaled, very deliberately, and nodded “Yeah, I think I can do that at least,” he sighed, giving him an anxious smile. “You okay for a bit?” he asked, his concern transferring to his wife momentarily.

“I’m good, go call them,” Romelle assured him, before scratching Kosmo’s ruff and ears. “I have this cutie to keep me company.”

“I’m chopped liver then, good to know,” Keith said, watching and rolling his eyes as his overly-friendly dog ruined his supposedly terrifying façade by climbing onto Romelle’s knees and rolling over for belly scratches.

Matt disappeared off behind them into the hallway, and Keith’s thoughts trailed back to the woman from the video. Keith hoped her calmer, meeker reactions really were part survival instincts kicking in, and partly her father’s warning. 

It had—at an exact count—been twenty-two days since Matt and his mother had reported the kidnapping. It would be just over a month when the time of the call Bogh had mentioned arrived. 

That was already significantly longer than most normal kidnappings, and while it was true that Katie was still alive, and her conditions appeared to be more reasonable than most, besides her injuries and the danger of her unwanted company, she still wasn't in a semblance of something that could be called safety.

“I still can’t believe it took my sister-in-law getting kidnapped for you two to meet,” Romelle sighed, breaking the silence as Matt’s voice murmured quietly through the door, left a little ajar. “If you’d come to the wedding you’d could’ve met Katie, too,” she sighed. “You’d like her. She’s got your weird sense of humour.”

“I’m sorry?” Keith offered. “I mean, I was on a case…”

“I know, I know, your self-imposed mission to stop all Purificationists everywhere,” Romelle sighed, fond exasperation in her voice. “But maybe you can put it on pause? Just for a bit? One hour? We’re ordering pizza.”

Keith thought about protesting that, but his growling stomach made the decision for him, much to Romelle’s smugness, and an hour later he found himself sitting with Romelle and Matt, watching an old ‘ _Monsters & Mana_’ rerun.

They talked about how Matt got into the media aspect of his dad’s company purely by accident; he’d applied for a job in a company that was once a subsidiary, and later ended up absorbed as part of the full business, and he’d ended up working his way up the Voltedge media management track.

Keith talked to him in return about his dad, about how the devastating incident in his hometown had been the match that lit his own course through the police ranks.

Then they started grumbling about the plot mess and hodgepodge writing into the episode they were watching, and eventually got into a debate on Kill-Bot Phantasm theories for the next game release.

“Katie thinks it’s going to be a return to Tsuyoshi’s character arc, but we’re hoping for Princess Fala,” he said offhandedly. “Her reboot is _way_ better than the original.”

“I think she’ll show up, but I think it's going to be Tsyuyoshi too,” Keith said, picking up another slice of the plain four cheese. “They’ve been following the chronological timeline for the most part, and he was the third character to be introduced into the original. Story-wise, he makes the most sense,” he reasoned. “It lines up with the clip of Koltarius at the end of the last game too.”

“Wait, what clip?” Matt frowned. “I thought the only secret ending was unlocked if you managed to complete Jiro’s side-quest?”

“If you play through with just the Blade of Marmora as Akira’s primary weapon on hard mode; you can evolve it to absorb immortal energy for the next game early,” Keith said. “And there’s a hidden ending where you protect yourself using it from Koltarius’s Siphon Song.”

“No wonder I don’t know, I can never last more than two levels with that thing before I cave and start practicing immortal magic,” Matt grumbled. “I bet Katie knew and just kept it to herself for the shits and giggles,” he grumbled.

Keith didn’t know whether or not to address that with any curiosity about Matt’s sister. It felt strange, like he would be invading her privacy to ask questions when he was technically off the clock (though right now he wasn’t really ever off the clock), and Katie wasn't there to answer them herself. He was curious though, since they were both close to his own friend.

“She likes KBP?” he asked hesitantly. That was a reasonable thing to ask, wasn't it?

“She’s as bad as you,” Romelle grumbled. “She dragged me into it kicking and screaming and wouldn't take no for an answer until I had my own account.”

“Yeah, she even got our parents to sit down and play it before her Wordbomb hit,” Matt chuckled. “She’s not bad with Akira or Ryusei, but she’s waiting for Hiroshi’s character DLC. She’s _lethal_ in duos as Hiroshi in the original.”

The conversation continued long into the evening, until Kosmo was a heavy fluffy lump across his knees and the combined warmth of his dog, the tentative budding of an acquaintance growing stronger, familiarity of firm friendship, and food started drooping his head right there on the sofa.

He could have fallen asleep there but it didn’t feel right, and Keith refused to intrude any longer, marching himself and Kosmo back out towards his bike.

He was sure that Mr and Mrs Holt probably wouldn’t appreciate his presence upon their return. They needed somewhere to escape to, and Keith would only be an unpleasant reminder of the hell they were going through, of their missing family member. Better he kept his distance.

Besides, Kosmo still needed his bath.

* * *

Nothing so much exciting in this chapter for Keith, but keep your eyes peeled al the same >;) I've had the chapters stockpiled but I got caught up with Sugar so.... yeah sorry for the delays in posting this one.


	9. Collect Your Courage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **WARNING:** _THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS INCLUDING BLACKMAIL, BODILY HARM, AND TORTURE._
> 
> Please check the Series Notes and Tags for Content Warnings. TL:DR in the end notes.

Keith was not confident in police ability to control the second call from the morning it was due until it started at six-thirty pm, and his uncertainty became more well-founded the longer it progressed.

During the first call, they had the element of surprise, and had been able to use Sendak’s own discomfort with the exposed situation to their advantage, but time had passed since then, and Sendak had easily grown more confident, made clear from the moment Katie was brought on-screen next to Sendak.

He launched into the call with his demands, irritation and frustration clear with his words; Keith’s meagre hopes that he would be less violent around the woman also faded as her blindfold was removed.

The black eye seemed to be healing, but still had dark purple patches around her eye socket, and a scab where the skin had obviously been split. Considering the size of the man versus the tiny woman, and the amount of force that had probably been put into the blow that caused it, he couldn’t help but wonder from the size if there was a fracture involved.

He hoped not. With any luck Sam would still be able to confirm it with Katie himself. Sendak claimed it was a result of her own behaviour very briefly, and that was all the information they were given before he started talking about the delays with the blue prints, and Keith began to get a sinking feeling in his gut as he listened to the back and forth.

He could tell immediately that the conversation wasn’t going to be a good one, and there wasn’t much they could do to stop the way it was developing into an obvious threat.

Not just from Sendak’s words and mannerisms, or the tone in his voice, but the discomfort that Katie was displaying every time he touched her shoulder, her face. It was more obvious, more instinct than before. The treatment she was tolerating had likely taken a turn for the worse, or she had reason to believe it might, and something heavy lined his insides as he stopped watching to catch the conversation.

‘ _…t’s been a month now, and you haven't shown me anything but sketches and blueprints._ ’

The woman squinted at the screen as he spoke, his displeasure even in his voice; he was far too calm right now. He knew that he had full control of the situation this time. Looking over at Regris, his friend and co-worker shook his head from his own computer.

“Working on it.” he muttered. 

Nothing on the trace yet. Regris had expected the difficulty, and so had Keith, but he had really been hoping for something. They needed another lead. Ladnok had finally been contacted, and would be coming in to talk to them about her husband, but besides that, their trails had dried up.

Pressing the button on the computer controls that system that would keep his voice hidden from Sendak, Keith could only advise Mr Holt to try and keep Sendak talking, to agree and appear complacent, apologetic, empathise with him. Anything that would make him come across as truly repentant for his perceived slight

He wished the delay had been a result of their intervention as Sendak wondered, but it really had just been Mr Holt encountering difficulties with his lab and design process regarding the prototype weapons. ‘ _It’s not something he’s ever made before,_ ’ Matt had said. Keith had no doubt those words were the absolute truth. The stress was obvious on the older man’s face.

“Of course I understand,” he said, trying to placate Sendak. “But I can’t just make a prototype overnight! If I could, you’d have it already! The blueprints have to be functional first, and none of the 3D-Modelling has been successful yet.”

‘ _don’t know if your delays are deliberate, or worth the full merit of reinforcement, but I’m very certain that if it weren’t for your guard dog,_ ’ Sendak spa, his hand cupping around Katie’s face. ‘ _Things would be progressing much more efficiently._ ’ 

“They’re not deliberate! The police aren’t interfering, I swear! I won’t let that happen, not if it puts Katie in danger!” Sam pleaded. “I’m sorry, but what you’re asking is just difficult, even for me! I can’t do it in the timeframe you want! Please, I need more time!”

‘ _I think you’ve had more than enough time,_ ’ Sendak snarled; her eyes were adjusting, finally, and in Sendak’s hand Katie could make out the glow of another cigarette. Then he sighed in frustration. ‘ _Bogh? What do you think? Is Mr Holt being sincere?_ ’

Katie looked to someone off camera, eyes widening in dismay as Bogh’s voice came through on the speakers. ‘ _I think he is,_ ’ he began.

Keith held his breath during the pause; so far Bogh had been an unpredictable element. His background was atypical of the usual cultist, and he’d been easier to communicate with. Their limited knowledge of his interactions with Katie also suggested that he wasn’t hostile towards her like Sendak had been.

‘ _But that said, I know how fast he can work when he wants to, and even if the adaptation is difficult, and while it’s only fair to keep stress I’m sure he’s feeling in mind, I still wonder if he’s trying to draw things out a little._ ’

The fragment of hope disappeared as soon as it dared reared its head, and Sendak handed a lit cigarette to the man, leaving the matter with his subordinate. ‘ _Enjoy your chat with Katie, Mr Holt,_ ’ he sneered ominously. ‘ _I think we’ll discuss business once you are more receptive._ ’

‘ _What do you think Princess?_ ’ Bogh asked the woman in the chair as Sendak left the screen, the sound of a door closing off behind them somewhere. The question was a rhetorical mockery; she couldn’t respond to it with anything but a confused, wide stare.

“Bogh! Please! Don’t do this!” Mr Holt protested, far creeping onto his face.

‘ _It’s been three weeks five days since the last call,_ ’ Bogh told her, ignoring Sam’s voice as it echoed from the speakers. ‘ _Personally, I think twenty-six is overdoing it; so, let’s knock off the five, and divide twenty-one by three,_ ’ he calculated with a little finger counting. ‘ _That’s seven. That’s not so bad, is it?_ ’

Realisation fast forming in her eyes, Keith’s gut churned as Katie’s violent head shakes and cries of protest were ignored. ‘ _Yeah, I think that’s more reasonable too,_ ’ Bogh said in mocking agreement, putting the cigarette on the table and pushing her towards the desk (towards the camera).

“No! Bogh, please! I’m trying! I’m working as fast as I can, please!” Sam begged above the sound of the woman’s muffled screaming, and the ripping sound of the back of her shirt before she was pushed head down onto the desk, her back exposed to the screen, a hand on the back of her neck holding her in place. “Please! It’s not her fault!” her dad begged again. “Bogh, please! Let her go!”

Bogh glanced up at the camera for a moment. ‘ _Sorry Mr Holt, but Sendak said to handle this, so I’m handling it,_ ’ he said before dropping his eyes as he pushed the end of the cigarette into the skin between Katie’s shoulder blades. ‘ _You ought to keep pace with him a bit more than try make us meet your schedule, before he really gets upset with the delay—oh come on, really?_ ’

He paused only to relight the cigarette, totalling the welts up to the tally he’d settled on in the mockery of a conversation. Seven circular burns in a line down Katies back, along her spine

“Stop! Let go of her! Stop! Stop! Stop!” her father sobbed over the woman’s screams. “Katie!” 

It was horrible to hear, and while he knew he ought to, if only to try and keep a live analysis of Bogh’s behaviour in his head, Keith couldn’t watch. 

He felt like, over the duration of this particular case, he'd got to know the woman currently being tortured. He didn’t know if it was personal pride, frustration with the case and the multiple dead ends, or because he knew she was just as big a KBP fan as he was thanks to Matt and Romelle, or because if he’d gone to Romelle’s wedding, they just might have been friends in another of fates unratified timelines, but he couldn’t watch.

He felt angry, for Katie herself, and just at the general situation. He didn’t dare try to put himself in her shoes right now. Bogh was supposed to have been a trustworthy figure in her life; now he was actively causing the harm he was supposed to have protected her from. Physical torture aside, how could he possibly imagine what that felt like?

Once he was done, he bent closer to her ear, muttering something inaudible, patting her cheek patronisingly before cutting through the gag and pulling it away. Another quiet conversation, interrupted only by Katie’s choked sobs and heavy breaths as she tried to compose herself before he left her slumped against the desk, heading towards one of the doors behind her.

There was a pause for a moment, the woman on the screen slumped, exhausted, frustrated, scared and—

The sound of a furious kick at the table and a lot of angry, unpleasant descriptions about Bogh, the cigarette, and some grievous damage to his dick exploded from the supposedly brow-beaten woman, the camera shaking on the other end of the feed. Fury was the main sound in her voice, besides the high paced breathing that followed her angry words and the chokes still in her throat.

“Katie, Katie honey, look at me,” her dad called out gently, already guessing she might be working herself into a panic attack, his own feelings cast aside for the time being. “Just focus on my voice, okay?”

‘ _D-Don’t let mum come in yet, promise,_ ’ she begged.

“I won’t,” her dad assured her. “The Detectives will let her and Matt through whenever you’re ready,” he said encouragingly. “Try to listen to my voice, okay sweetheart?”

Katie nodded, not moving from the desk as her breathing settled a little. ‘ _C-Can you tell me? About the blueprint designs?_ ’

Her father did just that, distracting her as best he could from her pain and panic until another person entered the video frame, one Keith recognised from his files, Macidus Gal, the former doctor who had blown up his own surgery.

“Who are you? Haven’t you people hurt her enough? Get your hands off her!”

‘ _I-It’s Okay dad. He’s not hurting me, I’m… I’m okay,_ ’ Katie said quickly, her voice hoarse and pleading. ‘ _Can you get mum and Matt now?_ ’ she asked hopefully as the man standing behind the chair loosened the ropes around her arms a little. ‘ _Please? Before he cuts us off?_ ’

The words were very clearly a lie, but nobody made mention of it. Keith looked at the frustration, exhaustion, and clear pain on her face as she forced the words out, and felt a very strange kind of pride in the way the woman carried herself through her own duress.

For someone he’d never met, Keith couldn’t judge her much, but so far, her tenacity during these calls had been impressive, and he didn’t think that was a strange quality to notice. Her father had called her brave in the last call, and that was a judgement that was entirely true as far as he could see.

Keith looked at the screen, the blood staining the edge of her jumper and shirt, the sweat on her face, and the stubborn set in her eyes, and silently made his way towards the door of the broadcasting room. 

He was sure even as her father nodded, forcing a smile, that if he didn’t, it would just be undermining her own efforts to remain focused, attempts to stay positive. Unless Regris had found any luck in locating the signal, there wasn’t much they could do, as frustrating as that was to admit again, but at the very least they could try.

Colleen rushed in first, and Keith watched her as he made his way over to Regris, tuning his earpiece in to listen to the call as he sat down beside his friend; the older woman quickly sat down, talking quietly as her son joined them.

“Any luck at all?” he asked Regris, giving the family some privacy for a moment. Kolivan was nearby if they needed anything, so Keith had time to check in with his friend. One of the main goals in twisting this hour out of Sendak had been to try and maximise their time to try and track his location.

Or so Regris said. He too was sweating, the pressure of a time limit clearly weighing on his shoulders and he looked frustrated. 

“Until we can get access from the VPN company, not really; We traced it to a provider in Drazan so the FCD is going to take the access request forward for us,” he snarled. “I hate it, but Sendak really has his communications trail covered as far as this goes.”

“…he hasn’t done anything else?”

‘ _Matt, I swear, no-one’s touched me like that, it was just my eye, and I was dumb enough to goad him,_ ’ Katie sighed over Keith’s earpiece. ‘ _Can we talk about something else? I don’t want to think about him._ ’

Keith patted his friends on the shoulder, hoping for some encouragement before he turned back into the conversation currently being exchanged between the Holt siblings. Judging by the more relaxed tone in Katie’s voice—if it was possible for her to feel at all relaxed right now––it had been going on for a while.

“Sorry, really, we shouldn’t keep bringing it up,” Matt said apologetically. “We’re just scared for you, that’s all. But sure, change of subject. Name it sis.”

Looking at the screen, Macidus seemed to be done tending to the second set of burns that had been branded onto her. ‘ _That’s the best I can do for now,_ ’ he said, loudly enough for the camera microphone to pick up. ‘ _If you want them, I have some painkillers a bit stronger than paracetamol you can take later._ ’

Katie nodded, and with the assent, Macidus started winding the rope back around her upper arms. While the Holts all flinched, Katie didn’t even bat an eyelid at it. Though after over a month of being held hostage, things like being tied up all the time had probably just become normal to her. 

She didn’t really seem to be flinching at the treatment from Macidus as she looked back at her family, just staying relaxed, perhaps to try and avoid as much physical discomfort from it as she could. 

‘ _Is the new KBP game out yet?_ ’ she asked. 

Matt blinked. “You want to talk about... video games?” he checked, sounding confused, a little unsettled, but holding himself well.

Katie started not from Matt’s question, but when Macidus finished with the rope around her arms and untied her wrists, bringing them in front of her. He held them crossed, so the back of her hands pressed against each other before tying them together, and fastening her wrists to the ropes around her arms, at her front instead of behind her back like they had been in most of the photos or videos to Matt.

‘ _Bogh, I’m leaving for an hour or so,_ ’ Macidus informed the other cultist who was sitting at the back of the room again. ‘ _These need mepitel dressings,_ ’ he muttered, before stalking off the screen.

‘ _I’m bored!_ ’ Katie blurted, barely blinking as Macidus left, but her frustration was far from fake. Instead, she shot a glare over her shoulder at Bogh. ‘ _I’m sick of staring at the ceiling all day! I’d kill for a book, or even one of Dad’s crappy period dramas right now!_ ’ she said with a pointed kind of volume. ‘ _I even asked Bogh for one of his eBooks! I keep replaying all the cut-scenes from the reboot for something to think about!_ _If I keep imagining the arrival of the Beast King so much I’m going to be disappointed when I finally get to play it!_ ’

“Wait, which version are you talking about?” Matt frowned. “His revelation in the first series or the reboot?” he asked.

‘ _The second, obviously_ ’ she grumbled. ‘ _You know I haven’t played the first series yet,_ ’ she added, frowning in thought. ‘ _It’s the one where Hiroshi and Yasuo are looking for the Tower of DaiRugger? The clip when Akira uses his sensing mumbo jumbo and it has that really nice light show to represent his embodiment to the astral plane, and it ends with his sensing the Beast King in the tower._ ’ 

“You mean when you unlock the Kasni Sekir power up?” Matt checked.

‘ _Yeah, that’s the one, from the Fala Rebirth Arc._ ’ 

Wait, _what?_

The Beast King wasn’t in the Tower of DaiRugger! He was hiding in the astral plane. The only thing in the Tower of DaiRugger was the Crystal of Ion, the power source of the Witch Queen’s curse imprisoning immortals like Akira in the mortal realm!

Keith knew his outrage was utterly ridiculous (though a glance at Regris revealed an equally affronted look as he too caught the conversation). He reminded himself that Katie had been kidnapped and fucking tortured only minutes ago; getting video game timelines correct or incorrect was probably not of as much concern to her as the conversation itself. 

He was being absolutely ridiculous, but his inner appreciation for the KBP franchise and the character defining storylines was screaming at the butchering going on.

The scene Katie was talking about was from the first game in KBP chronology, and Keith had to bite his tongue not to interrupt the obviously incorrect placement of events. 

‘ _Yeah, that one,_ ’ she huffed. ‘ _Anyway, is the new game out yet? Have you played it? What happened to Isamu and Tsuyoshi? Did they get included this time, or is it still following Akira and Ryusei through the astral plane? They haven't released Hiroshi’s DLC yet have they?_ ’

Matt smiled. “Chill out sis,” he grinned. “They haven’t released anything yet; it got pushed back by a few weeks for a bug re-haul or something, so I’ll bet it won’t be out before you get home,” he said encouragingly. “And if it does release, as if I’m going to play it without you. I’ll wait.”

Keith continued to frown to himself as the conversation left the improperly organised topic, and he satisfied himself with reminders of the real order of events; Katie had said she hadn’t played the first game, so maybe he ought to give her credit for knowing any of the older game story at all. 

It was either that, or isolation was driving Katie Holt to madness already, because as far as he could recall, the Kasni Sekir power up hadn’t been _in_ the Fala Rebirth arc! It hadn’t been introduced until the third game in the first franchise, and _still_ didn’t exist in the second reboot! 

It was a spell cast by Tsuyoshi on Prince Koltarius to follow him through the Dimensional Arch and find the Beast King within the astral plane, one which hadn’t appeared until the end of the storyline in the original game!

‘ _Even if I want something to entertain myself with instead of ceiling plaster?_ ’ Katie groaned; Matt just smirked at her. ‘ _Ugh, fine, what’s happening in your lab mum? Did they find out who the kid’s dad is yet?_ ’ she paused. ‘ _What about grandma and granddad? Are they okay?_ ’

“They’re fine,” their mother assured her, taking over the call. “Worried about you, but they’re alright. We’ve told them not to watch the news right now, with your granddad’s heart I don’t know that he’d cope with it, but we’ve been telling them what’s happening,” Colleen said. “As for work, the two maybe-dads had an argument over whether or not they wanted a paternity test, so it’s been called off for now and they’re both moving in with…”

As she spoke, Matt got to his feet, heading over towards him. “This is going to sound really crazy,” he said in a low voice.

“Can’t be crazier as what I just heard, but go on,” Keith said. “Going by your expression, I take it that wasn’t just a horrible conflagration of different timelines?”

“No,” Matt said quickly. “When we used to play together, Katie and I had code words in duos; we’d go on open mic so other players could hear us and use them to make the other team mix up our plans or think we were total newbs; she’s played _both_ versions of KBP, and knows the lore inside out. She’d _never_ get it mixed up. I don’t think she was talking about the game at all.”

Keith stared at him, then back at the screen. “You think she was trying to tell you something?” he asked, a little awe lightening the unease that had been lining his gut.

Matt nodded. “She didn’t use the codes, but I think so; it’s been years since we played like that, so she probably thought she’d need to be obvious when we were talking about it, so that I knew what she was doing,” he said. “Let’s say the Beast King is Sendak; he’s trapping the immortals, in this case Katie, in the mortal realm, that being wherever she’s being kept,” Matt explained. “Kasni Sekir is a tracking spell to his location in the astral plane!” he said hoarsely, his eyes anxious on the screen.

A tracking spell. _A tracking spell_ ; Fate’s mercies, Katie was trying to tell them where she was.

“The tower of DaiRugger is the source of the curse, the Ion crystal is in the tower, powering it,” Keith frowned. “You can’t get to it until the penultimate boss battle,” he frowned. “She probably doesn’t know where she is exactly, Sendak’s been too careful, but she might have seen something.”

“Akira is from the Astral realm too,” Matt added. “At the start of the first game, he meets Hiroshi and they discover the curse trying to find a way for him to return to the Astral plane,” he said.

Keith rattled through his backlog of immense and usually irrelevant game knowledge to arrive at a new conclusion that he couldn't have dared hope for.

“He’s the one looking for the tower—she mentioned that specifically—so he can go _home_ ,” Matt continued. “I think… I think she means that literally.”

If Matt was right, if this really was a message, then Katie Holt was trying to tell them that she was still in Marchanda, had been on their doorstep all along, and was within spitting distance of rescue.

Rather than lose all rationale with the potential development, Keith silently ushered Matt back to the computer, not wanting anyone watching on the other end to become suspicious.

Calmly, Keith followed a while later, checking quietly in with Mr Holt, before turning and looking out of the windows for a second.

Katie had been deliberate in mentioning certain aspects of the story, from several games, knowing her brother would pick up on the gross mix up of storylines. Was the tower itself something too?

In the game, it was a power source for a curse. Had Katie seen some kind of power source somewhere? Walking around the room, he sat down beside Regris again, calmly and quietly telling him what Matt had told him.

“Are there any signals bouncing around near any power stations, or something that controls a network?” he asked him.

“That is not how signal tracking works,” Regris said, with an automated tone in his voice borne from repetition as he brought a map of the city up on the screen. “But yes, I’m checking.” 

Keith could feel Kolivan’s eyes on them from across the room, but ignored him for the moment as Regris opened up some icons across the satellite image.

“Okay, these are all the places across the city where there’s high demand and use, or are privately managed,” Regris said, pointing to the red markers that had appeared. “And these are buildings that have anything to do with power, network maintenance,” 

Beside him, Antok was also furiously working away. “The building looked like an old-style office from the videos, right?” he asked

Keith nodded, and Regris applied another filter on his search. A majority of the red and green markers disappeared, black ones appearing in a few places. “These are buildings that fit those descriptions. Ish. It’s a rough search for buildings built before this last century.”

Keith scoured over it, looking for anything that stood out. Anything that might be remarkable in a passing glance or a chance look that would prompt Katie to risk passing them information. She had to know passing information was dangerous if she was caught doing so. 

Sendak might not kill her if he knew, but he could make life for her much, much worse than it already was. According to Matt, she was intelligent, had graduated high school and entered higher education early. She wouldn’t try to pass on information unless it was something she was certain of.

It had to be something that she recognised, something she couldn't mistake for anything else. She had lived in Marchanda all her life; what would stand out to her? He scoured over the business district, where she both lived and worked. There was a black dot on a set of buildings with a red ping marker, and some distance away, a green dot hovered above…

“Think Teludav Tower makes for a modern day Tower of DaiRugger?” he asked Regris.

“A tower that holds a magic curse crystal, and a tower that processes network and gridway data and acts as a cultural icon?” Regris raised an eyebrow. “I think if this is right, then she really is a genius, and Sendak’s security manager is _also_ a genius, and they’re probably using the tower to distort and bounce his broadcast signal alongside his VPN.” He said, face focused again, jumping back into his trace, biting his lip as he tried to isolate it. “If I concentrate on…” he muttered to himself. 

The typing and tapping on his keyboard continued as the family talked, and Keith watched the timer drop from thirty-two minutes to seven as Regris and Antok frantically worked. Then, finally, Regris poked his shoulder.

A message on the screen read ‘ _Location Acquired_ ', and above a set of building due south from the tower, amongst the ones that had been in the area around the black dot, was a vibrating white marker: _Feyiv Accounting Offices_.

“It went bust three years ago,” Regris said. “Bought up by a private investor but nothing happened and the building’s been in development ever since. No word on who the investor might be, but three years ago is when the Purificationists started sneaking into Voltedge, wasn’t it?”

“It was,” Keith said, glancing at the screen. The timer was getting low, it was down to three minutes, and he could see Sendak hovering ominously in the background behind Katie. “Do not lose whatever you followed.”

He glanced at Kolivan, and made his way back toward the family, who were trying in vain to round off their conversation without tears to the goodbye. By the time he got there, the timer had reached zero, and Sendak was the one behind the chair.

‘ _Now that you’re done,_ ’ he said. ‘ _Let’s discuss how to proceed, Mr Holt,_ ’ he said, once Colleen and Sam had left with Kolivan. Katie was still on-screen, gagged again, and blindfolded, cut off from her surroundings as Sendak spoke, a hand on her shoulder. From the corner of his eye, Keith could see Matt talking rapidly with Kolivan, and knew that the Superintendent would be up to speed in a few moments. ‘ _Whilst you’ve been a disappointment recently, I promised your daughter I’d be generous for her good behaviour._ ’

As Sendak spoke, Keith could hear Kolivan’s quick orders, mobilising one of the first response teams.‘ _Provided we can settle things quickly, you can have whatever remains of the hour to talk again. I assume you are agreeable to that?_ ’ 

Sam nodded. “Of course I am.”

Kolivan silently wove his way through the computers, and Keith could hear him sending calm, firm and focused, clear instructions through the earpiece. 

‘ _Wonderful,_ ’ Sendak said, his own pleasure summarising the chance that had been brought before them perfectly.

With any luck, and maybe a bit of help from fate if it was feeling kind, Sendak wouldn't see the first response teams coming.

* * *

:D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **TL:DR**  
>  •Keith is uneasy about the process of the second call, getting the impression as Sendak and Sam talk that he is impatient. Katie is present during the call.
> 
> •Sendak finally states despite Sam's pleas that he's had ' _more than enough time_ ' and asks Bogh if thinks Sam is being sincere about his delays. Bogh says yes, but adds that aside from the hold ups pressure and worry is probably giving him, he thinks he can do better when he wants to, and suggest he's trying to stall.
> 
> •Sendak has a puff, hands the cigarette to bogh, telling him to handle the rest, advising Sam to enjoy his chat with Katie.
> 
> •Bogh asks her what she thinks, and Katie is confused, wary of the cigarette above the sound of her father's protests; he isn't expecting an answer as she's still gagged, and she is uneasy about what's happening.
> 
> •Bogh reminds her how long she has been held hostage, how long it's been since she spoke to her father last, and remind her about sendak's threats, but ' _Personally, I think twenty-six is overdoing it; so, let’s knock off the five, and divide twenty-one by three. That’s seven. That’s not so bad, is it?_ '
> 
> •Katie is dismayed, and tries to protest. Bogh ignores her, and pushes her chair closer to the desk, and hold her face down against it by the neck. He burns her with the cigarette seven times, starting from between her shoulder blades and going down her spine.  
> •When its over––' _all done Princess_ '––he removes the gag. The timer starts, and he says he's going to get the doc to patch her up.
> 
> •When Bogh is gone, Keith is surprised that despite how scared she is, Katie still hasn't completely lost her willpower or personality when kicks the table in frustration and hurt, trying to calm down. He admires her tenacity. Trained police would struggle with that kind of imprisonment, and as a civilian, her fortitude is impressive to him.
> 
> •Katie begs her father not to let her mother or brother in just yet. she asks him about the neutraliser designs, and eventual calms down as Macidus arrives. Macidus patches her up, and her mum and Matt come in. She begs them to just talk for a while. They agree.
> 
> •Keith spends some time checking to find out if Regris has any progress on the trace, but so far he's had no luck. Going back to monitor the call, Keith enters the conversation as Matt is asking what she wants to talk about.
> 
> •Katie starts asking about KBP, and seems to be extremely confused with the timelines and backstory of the characters; Keith reminds himself she was just tortured by her former bodyguard, and getting some details mixed up could be easily forgiven after that.
> 
> •Katie gets bored of the conversation and asks her mother about her office drama at her horticultural lab. Matt then approaches him, a little unction but looking determined.
> 
> •Matt tells Keith about the code system he and Katie developed for playing the game in Multiplayer to throw off other players on open Mic, and tell him that ' _...she’s played both versions of KBP, and knows the lore inside out. She’d never get it mixed up. I don’t think she was talking about the game at all._.
> 
> •Keith then asks if he thinks Katie was trying to tell him something. Matt days it been years since they played that way, so she didn't use their codes, and probably though she would need to be obvious when talking about it, and the two begin dissecting the lore Katie gave them agains the facts they both know from the shared interest in KBP.
> 
> •They reach the conclusion thatKatie was trying to tell them where she was, possibly having seen something and finally, that she might still be in Marchanda itself.
> 
> •Keith makes Matt go back to talk with his sister so as not to cause any suspicion from Bogh, who is supervising Katie, while he approaches Regris, who is also a KBP nerd, and hear the conversation over the microphones and earpieces.
> 
> •They examine the areas of the city they think might have something that would stand out. Keith tries to think what would stand out to Katie given she has lived in Marchanda all of her life; eventually they focus on Teludav Tower.
> 
> •Regris closes in on the signal through the rower and narrows it down to a building called ' _Feyiv Accounting Offices_ ' which went out of business three years previously, around the same time that the Purificationists first started infiltrating Voltedge, and is currently owned by a private investor.
> 
> •Kolivan takes over to organise the raid teams as Keith goes back to the call, again trying to minimise any suspicion as Sendak returns to the call. Katie is still present on the screen with him, gagged and blindfolded again, but so far, he isn't suspicious, wanting to negotiate with Sam some more
> 
> •Keith intends to keep it that way.


	10. The Same Kind of Remorse

However much Keith wanted to rush in and just pounce on Sendak while they had a clear location on him, he knew even before Kolivan started talking through the earpiece that they couldn’t jump in without a plan.

Unlike their usual interactions with the Purificationists, this was a hostage situation; they couldn’t approach the Feyiv buildings carelessly. 

In that regard, Keith was more than happy to leave management in Kolivan’s hands, with the security of his experience to guide the incoming operation more likely to navigate and guide the teams towards fruitful and ideal results.

Kolivan had already advised him to let Mr Holt know at some point what was happening, so that he could be prepared, and Keith waited for a moment when he could surreptitiously warn him. They needed to act fast, before the trace was either detected, or lost, and while Sendak’s attention was elsewhere.

It was sudden but the chance couldn't be passed up while Sendak was already distracted; he was unaware of Katie’s ruse, and didn't know she had managed to pass enough information to them to determine a possible location. Too long, and he might notice unusual activity. They had to act now.

‘... _Now, you said before that the designs were difficult, in what way, exactly?’_ Sendak asked, dropping a phone onto the table along with a packet of cigarettes, though he kept hold of the lighter, flicking the top back and forth irritably. _‘You mentioned 3D Modelling. What’s so complicated that it’s holding up your progress?’_

Over his earpiece, Keith could hear Kolivan talking to Antok, relaying data about the buildings as the two digital monsters went into the CCTV network surrounding the offices.

“I-I use it to replicate certain tech functions so that I can estimate performance rates, and the blue prints are failing right now,” Sam said, his voice gravelly, shuddering through something—probably anger judging by the way his knuckles were turning white and the way he was biting his lip—before exploding. “Which I tried to tell you! You just refused to listen so you could get some kind of sick thrill from having Bogh torture my daughter!”

‘ _I understand your distress Mr Holt, so I won’t take that personally,_ ’ Sendak said, his eyes glancing once at the woman in the chair beside him, tilting her face up towards him for a moment. ‘ _Feeling helpless to prevent harm to or help family is a terrible feeling,’_ he mused, before dropping her face again. ‘ _But I told you what would happen if you failed to keep me informed, and you made no mention of your delays during our previous phone calls; be glad it was Bogh who was responsible. Had it been myself, I would have been more consistent to the delay ratio._ ’

“Are you asking me to be grateful?” Sam snarled.

Sendak smiled. ‘ _No, I know that you aren’t, so platitudes are pointless; back to our discussion. Why are your models failing?_ ’

“I don’t know!” Sam blurted. “I don’t make weapons! I haven’t used the new technology like this before, and it isn’t suited to the design adaptations for the same reasons! I can only do so much before I have to rebuild entire sections of the neutraliser designs! Please, try to understand that I can’t do what you’re asking me to overnight!”

As Keith tried to keep up, Kolivan’s voice came over the earpiece: ‘ _Keith, Mr Holt needs to keep the call going as long as he can; it’s going to take the response teams ten minutes to get across the city. Don’t let him go so far that it puts Miss Holt in danger if this doesn't work, but keep Sendak occupied._ ’ Keith didn’t react to the words, but kept them in the back of his mind as he decided to intervene in Sam’s panic.

“Mr Holt, try to take a moment, and clear your head,” Keith advised calmly, switching off their audio through to Sendak temporarily. “He’s trying to goad you by keeping Katie onscreen precisely for this conversation; do not agree to anything he demands unless you _know_ it's within your capability. He’s trying to put more pressure on you.” he said, quickly. “I know this is difficult, but try to stay calm, just like Kolivan told you before the first call; do not react to me, or what I’m about to tell you,” he said, making sure he wasn't in the frame of the camera as he spoke. Mr Holt's face remained the same, rushed and pained from Sendak’s words.

‘ _I’m aware of that Mr Holt,_ ’ Sendak frowned, the interference unnoticed. ‘ _Perhaps you can explain the problems you’re having in more detail, if this really is such a large issue?_ ’

“Thanks to your genius daughter, we have a location from the call,” Keith continued. “She slipped Matt a message in with all their video game talk that helped us narrow on a possible location, but we still need your help to keep Sendak distracted long enough for the response teams to arrive,” he said quietly. “If I think it’s getting too risky, I’ll stop you, but for however long you can, please, try to draw this call out. Keep his attention on you. I’m giving Sendak our audio back in five… four… three… two...”

He lifted his finger from the switch, and the call continued without incident with Sam’s response to the terrorist. 

“I’ve tried all the particle barriers we have in development, and so far, the reaction between the Red Syntian Nitrate and Heximite doesn’t generate an explosion, it just melts the microtech interface!” he blurted, his haste appearing no different than it had before Keith had told him of the developments. “This isn’t as simple as swapping out a few wires and switches!”

Sendak was silent, almost patient, listening as Sam explained the rest of the particulars of the design, things that Keith struggled to make head and tails of listening to, but Sendak (and Katie, if the jolt of her head as her father spoke was any indication) seemed to follow reasonably well.

‘ _Hm, I see,_ ’ Sendak said, sitting on the chair arm, an arm disappearing behind Katie’s shoulders. ‘ _I suppose if things are truly so problematic, I won't begrudge you more time to develop the blueprints to a working digital model,_ ’ he huffed. ‘ _I’ll be satisfied with that until I can see a hard prototype. You can have one week._ ’

“No, I’m sorry, but that’s not enough time.” Sam ran his hands through his hair. 

‘ _Are you sure?_ ’ Sendak asked; beside him Katie yelped at something, perhaps aggravation of the burns on her back. 

“Of course I am!” Sam said desperately, his hands shaking. “I have to redesign the storage units for each attempt at the modelling. I can try using a Tel-Galax mesh, or a Trayling barrier to separate the combining element—I _might_ be able to get the Trayling to work if I apply it with a micromatrix—but it will still take longer than a week!”

Clearly the advice to stay calm wasn’t working, but Keith hadn’t expected it to after everything that had happened. 

His reactions were completely in line with what Sendak ought to be expecting right now though, ironically, thanks to Sendak and his use of force on Katie. Unpleasant as it was, of all the things he could have done to give Sam something to react to, that was bound to garner the most honesty. 

“Both of those particle barriers are complicated even on basic tech! To apply them to this isn’t something I can do that quickly! I need two, at least, before I’ll even know if they’ll work as concepts!”

The yelp of pain stopped, and Sendak’s hand appeared on Katie’s shoulder. ‘ _If you’re certain, then very well, two weeks are yours to work on this problem Mr Holt,_ ’ he said, rubbing soothing circles on her shoulders, an action that she cringed away from. ‘ _In in our future dealings, I do recommend you try to be more concise, Mr Holt,_ ’ he added. ‘ _I’ll be sure that Bogh sends you a few updates, but I don't think you need any distractions, so until these plans are done, you shouldn’t expect any more video calls,_ ’ he added. ‘ _I don’t advise any further delays either Mr Holt. Next time I feel as though there are unnecessary delays, a few cigarette burns will be comparatively_ gentle _compared to what your daughter will be subjected to if you cross me again. Are we clear?_ ’

Sam’s face was stricken, but he nodded. Looking at the clock, Keith grimaced; the whole hour had been taken-up. Bogh had already appeared, presumably to hoist Katie over his shoulder and carry her off again. Had it been long enough? He hadn’t heard Kolivan say anything about the response teams yet.

“Perfectly.” he said, exhaustion crawling in his voice.

Sendak’s shoulders dropped a bit of tension. ‘ _Well, this took longer than expected, so I’m afraid I won’t be giving you that extra time,_ ’ he said. 

“Please!” Sam begged. “Please, just a few minutes!”

‘ _No,_ ’ Sendak said flatly. ‘ _But for the sake of easing your mind, I’ll make sure Katie gets and receives the benefit elsewhere—as I said, she’s a model of good behaviour, and I’m not above rewarding her for that. You’ll receive the proof with one of the regular photo—_ ’

He paused, a small alert appearing on his phone. Picking it up, from his view of the screen, Keith couldn’t see the name on the contact ID, but he could see Sendak’s face as he read the message, and something changed. It grew tense, sharper.

He glanced first at Katie then at the screen, towards Mr Holt, before looking at Bogh. ‘ _Bogh, go get the sedatives,_ ’ he growled out.

Keith’s stomach churned along with the muffled protest that erupted from Katie as she realised something had gone wrong. No, No, No! How had Sendak found out? Had someone seen something? Bogh was on screen, but Lahn and Macidus were both unaccounted for. There might even be other people they weren’t aware of in the area.

“What? No, please! Don’t hurt her!”

Over his earpiece, beyond the sounds of Mr Holt’s pleas and panic, Keith could hear Kolivan rushing warnings to the response teams, but the sound of his own name from Sendak dragged his attention away.

‘ _I’m really quite impressed, Mr Hawkins. I’m not sure how you found our location, yet,_ ’ he paused, taking the needle and small, sealed bottle Bogh handed him, and extracting an unsettling amount of the sickly pink liquid. ‘ _But your team has been a problematic existence for some time. I can’t say I didn’t expect some progress from you, so I’m prepared for eventualities like this,_ ’ he said calmly, all but stabbing the point of the needle into Katie’s neck.

“No! Katie!”

The woman yelped out as the needle sunk into her neck, trying to pull herself away, held steady by the hand forcing her head to one side as the drug was forced into her. It acted fast, her struggles fading in a few seconds, turning her limp before Bogh lifted her out of the chair.

Kolivan was shouting something, and Keith was vaguely aware of Colleen rushing past him towards Sam—he was distraught, he ought to say something, anything—but the rapid turn in circumstances had him frozen with anger, and concern for Sendak’s hostage. 

He didn’t seem certain it had been Katie’s doing, but how had he known? Who had told him? That message had to have been a warning.

Had it been from one of his own men? Or one of their own? They’d already gutted Votledge’s staff and found more cultists. They had checked their own ranks too, but nothing had come up. Had they missed something?

‘ _For now, we’ll have to cut this short,_ ’ Sendak said, looking to the screen a final, sneering curl of a smile on his face before there was a rustle, and the screen turned black. ‘ _Keep up the work Mr Holt._ ’

* * *

The raid missed Sendak by minutes.

However he’d been informed of the impending teams’ arrival, it had given him enough time to vacate the Feyiv building before they had arrived, even traveling with the usual grid restrictions removed.

Kolivan been speaking to Mr and Mrs Holt for a while, and Keith had tried to hole himself up in the evidence analysis from the forensics teams, and his own examination of the scene once forensics had cleared it. He didn't think he could bring himself to look at them.

He was angry at himself, for not reacting sooner, for not being able to help Mr Holt keep Sendak distracted longer, for taking so long to get a chance, and wasting the only one they’d had, one provided by the victim herself no less.

He was scared for what was going to happen to Katie, more than he cared to admit. The length of the case had made him invest so much of his attention in it he felt like his judgement was starting to haze a little. He’d never worked on a kidnapping case for this long before, and not one with such relatively close and periodical contact with the hostage.

If Sendak suspected her subterfuge—which he almost certainly would—what would he do? Keith had no way of knowing what his threshold for ‘ _impudence_ ’ had been to give her that black eye. He’d burned her neck for objecting to assist his call to her brother. What was his reaction going to be for this, if she couldn’t hide it?

Katie Holt given him a chance to find her, handed it to him like a fate-blessed offering through her brother. Hell, if he’d had two more moments to think, he might have suspected the deliberate mashing of KBP franchise canon was some kind of message himself. He felt like she had been telling him everything he’d needed, and they had wasted everything she’d risked in revealing it to them.

So far, they had plenty of evidence to confirm the location had been in use for some time. From one of the cars in the underground car park—the same one Ms Stirling had identified and reported—to the room that had been converted into Katie’s prison.

There were multiple locks on the door, and the mattress in the corner of the room was covered in strands of hair and other DNA that Ezor zeroed in on as soon as forensics had been cleared to go into the crime scene by the first response officers. More worryingly, she found glass that had traces of blood on too.

There was a bag of clothes, ones they had seen her wearing in the past couple of videos—a green cardigan, the jeans and jumper from the first picture her brother had been sent, starting the investigation, a tie-dye hoodie—dumped in the main control hub, by a kitchenette with a microwave oven and fridge containing quick meals, like microwave macaroni and pizza.

Regris had led the digital teams throughout the building and down the surrounding street, looking for camera footage. They found some cameras in the lights of both the bathroom connected to Katie’s room, and within her room itself.

Then he claimed the hastily abandoned computer after Romelle had worked through her evidence in the hideout control room; a bagged, half empty bottle of Q, the hypodermic stained pink where the drug remnants coated the inside. Bits of burned, congealed blood that had been marked onto the back of the askance chair, and the cigarette left on the top of the desk covered in it. The same one that had been pushed into Katie’s back earlier that evening, now imbued with the scent of tar and burned skin. 

The computer itself hadn’t been destroyed, thankfully, and while Regris reported no success with the street footage, he was still hoping they could find something on it from the cameras in the building.

There wasn’t really much to do, though the response teams had made some arrests, and had started writing up their reports. He could go through those later. 

A message pinged onto his phone from Kolivan, asking him to come back to the station, and making sure to avoid the front of the building (where the press was already congregating) Keith made his way out to his hoverbike.

Heading out of one of the back doors, which had been broken open by the response team by the looks of things, he paused as he caught sight of a familiar tan face leaning against the back of the building inhaling on a vape like his life depended on it.

“I had the fucking car for a moment, nearly caught the tyre,” Lance muttered angrily to himself said, sitting crouched on the back of his heels against the wall, still clad in his raid gear. 

“Not your fault,” Keith grunted, leaning against the wall for a moment, taking the pause for all it was worth. “Someone tipped him off. I’d love to know _how_ , but unless we missed someone in the office sweep, I have no idea.”

Lance gave him a weak smile. “Yeah, that’s why I didn’t go for your job in the academy,” he laughed. “Too much thinking; I’m better at getting practical results,” he said, then grimaced. “Just not today, apparently. You heading back to the station at all?”

Keith nodded. “Need a lift?”

“Yeah, I was going to get the bus, but I might catch attention like this,” he gestured to all the raid garb. “And if I miss my date tonight, today is going to go down the drain even harder than it already is. I haven’t seen a failed raid this gloomy for a while,” he sighed, switching off the vape, before his tan face took on an unpleasant pallor. “Alfor is going to have us running suicides sprints for a _week_.”

Keith snorted, then stood up. “Come on lover boy,” he called heading towards his bike, which poked out amongst the other response vehicles and cars that had rushed to the scene.

He hopped on the bike, followed by his ex-academy classmate, trying to push aside the crushing failures of the day with sharp corners and off-grid shortcuts.

* * *

It didn’t take long to get back to the first response centre to drop Lance off, and he all but jumped off the bike with a whoop of delight and a ‘ _Cheers Mullet!_ ’ as Keith revved the engine, and headed on to the station.

It hadn’t been too far out of his way, and he made it back in with just enough time to rush up the stairs as quickly as he could, through the mess of desks and towards Kolivan’s office on the Voltedge case’s temporary floor. 

Inside Kolivan and Antok were already waiting. The surprising face was Brodar, one of the executives from the NCD. With the equivalency of a Commander in the normal police force, he was Kolivan’s first superior, and alarm bells immediately began to echo in Keith’s mind upon sight of the man.

“How did it go?” Kolivan asked wearily as Keith closed the door behind him. 

Keith grunted. “Well enough,” he shrugged. “Considering they escaped; Regris might be able to find something on the computer. They didn’t have time to blow it up or set off any explosives,” he said, eyeing Brodar suspiciously. What whim of fate was _he_ here for? “So? What’s going on?” he asked. 

“DCI Hawkins,” Brodar greeted with an easy smile. “After Antok, and Sergeant Keaton, succeeded in estimating Sendak’s location, Mr Duval contacted me requesting additional support during an extraction.”

“I’m glad to have it, but that still doesn’t tell me why you’re here,” Keith frowned. “Antok only came down because Kolivan requested the extra help. What’s got you interested all of a sudden? This had better not be some kind of NCD intervention.”

“No,” Brodar assured him. “You and your team have done a good job. I wish some of my own people were half as resourceful; despite Sendak’s notoriety, your team is consistently the closest anyone has come to catching him.” Keith didn’t hear any insincerity or lie in his words, but remained uncertain. “Even the NCD hasn’t got this close to him before, so no, we aren't taking over the case. I’m happy to leave it in your hands, though we would like your case data to keep abreast of the situation.”

Keith dropped his hackles a little once he’d heard that plainly spoken; aside from professional pride, he had been worried that if the NCD took over the case, the priority would go onto finding Sendak, not rescuing Katie Holt. 

The desensitisation that happened with large-scale cases involving terrorists in the NCD was the reason he hadn’t applied there in the first place.

It had already been a fucking crap day as far as the case went, and in general; if he’d been told to hand it over to the NCD, he would probably have thrown hands with the man, Kolivan’s superior or not. It had been that kind of day.

“That’s fine. You said you came to offer some support?” he asked finally, leaning against the edge of Kolivan’s desk. “What kind?”

“I’ve spoken to my superiors and we’ll be organising a team to act under yours, including any future raids,” Brodar said. “ I’ve already sent the urgency of getting VPN access from Drazan to my FCD counterpart, which should help speed things along, but I actually came to share some information I couldn’t give Kolivan when he initially called for assistance.”

Keith felt the tension in the room rise again, but not from him. He could practically feel the waves of irritation already rolling off of the Chief Superintendent behind the desk as he glared at Commander Brodar.

“What are you talking about, Brodar?” he asked, with the calm tone Keith had come to treat with respectful (and absolute) caution.

“I’m sorry Kolivan, I didn’t know at the time. I’ve only just received it and the clearance to share it with the senior investigators in this room,” he explained, looking around at them all. “I’m unable to say who it is, because I don’t know, but the NCD currently has an agent working with Sendak, within the group of Purificationists who have had direct contact with your hostage, Katie Holt.”

A pin couldn’t have shattered the silence that struck the room; Keith for one felt like his feet had been ripped out from under him. 

“You had an agent in there the whole time and you didn’t think to tell us sooner?” Keith demanded. “Or hell, tell them to try help Katie out of this mess?” He asked, his tone scathing. “She’s already been tortured Brodar, live-streamed to her father while Bogh ground cigarettes into her back!”

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t know until Mozak told me!” Brodar said, apologetic as he was defensive. “As I understand it, the agent’s contact with the NCD is limited, my superiors were worried they might have been undercover too long, and lost contact when the fire occurred, but during the previous video calls, and today’s—”

“Video call? Those are supposed to be secure lines! You’re spying on our feeds?” Keith choked.

Even Antok, who _was_ NCD, looked shocked. “Fates, and people wonder why crime dramas are always so fucking dramatic,” he muttered. 

“This is why I stick to horror and sci-fi. At least the tropes there don’t offend me on a personal level,” Keith grumbled.

“—during the video call today, we got confirmation that the agent was still working as planned, and hadn’t been discovered. We’re still limited in how to contact them, but they might be in a position to help during another raid, if they have warning. They can’t do much, their cover is essential to our infiltration of the higher level cult ranks, but having someone inside the group should be of some help to you.”

“But you can’t tell us about this moment of contact he made with the NCD?” Kolivan guessed.

“No,” Brodar confirmed. “I cannot. I can tell you they were left behind supposedly to destroy the digital equipment, and that was how the agent contacted us, but I don’t know what happened after that. They were forced to leave before the raid team arrived.”

“And you can’t tell us who it is either I’ll bet,” Keith checked. “How the hell is this supposed to help?”

“I can’t, because I don't know,” Brodar sighed. “Commissioner Mozak said the Agent’s role is imperative to the overall investigation and de-establishment of Fire of Purification; they _cannot_ be exposed. If they can help, they will, but their identity needs to remain confidential, and they cannot lose their place inside the cult for a secondary case.”

_Secondary case?_

“Are you being fucking serious?” he couldn't help snarling. “Katie Holt is being _tortured!_ ” he spat at the man. “Every day Sendak goes free is another day her _life_ is in danger! You've had someone amongst the people holding her hostage this whole time, who could tell us _everything_ we need to find her this very moment, and you won’t tell us who it is because her life is considered _secondary_ ?” Keith felt like he was choking on his own anger. “You're a disgrace. You absolutely _disgust_ me.”

He ought to be grateful they had been granted anything with this much secrecy involved at all. Knowing there was a friendly face amongst Sendak’s forces somewhere would have been nice to know earlier, but the fact that the NCD was willing to share it now spoke of how important Katie Holt’s rescue was becoming, and that was strangely reassuring. 

But he wasn't. Keith just felt like wringing the Commander’s neck, even if the _Commissioner_ had issued the orders, and Brodar’s hands had been tied as much as theirs had been. 

“Keith,” Kolivan said, a little surprise in his voice. “We’re all invested in this case, but—”

“—If you’re about to tell me I’m overreacting, don’t,” Keith said sharply. “You know as well as I do that Sendak is getting tired of waiting around! The best we could get him to agree for a 3D-model deadline was two weeks! This agent could have avoided us this whole situation, but they have done nothing!” he spat.

Brodar had the decency to look a little pale. “I realise it’s frustrating, but when the grand scheme of the cult is taken into consideration, you can understand why we don’t want to risk the agent’s exposure.”

“And how is that supposed to be a comforting thought for Mr and Mrs Holt? I’m sure they’ll be overjoyed to learn that their daughter isn’t as important as grand scheme after watching Bogh give her second-degree cigarette burns!” he asked, his scathing tone dripping with frustration and anger. 

“Keith!”

“If you’re worried about the grand scheme then you ought to worry about what’s going to happen if we get to the point where we have to hand Sendak a weapon of mass murder on a silver platter!” he blurted. “Finding _her_ should be your fucking priority right now as well as ours! Fate, what kind of left-handed _bullshit_ is this?!”

“Keith!” Kolivan snapped, taking him out of his rant for a moment. “I know this is hard to absorb, but it’s the best Brodar can do, and this isn’t something he has control over either,” he said, tone firm. “It's above his clearance too. The timing is less than ideal, but it will still be useful, and… it might provide Mr and Mrs Holt some reassurance to know that someone is in a position to mitigate the danger their daughter is in, however remotely.”

Keith choked back a laugh; how was that supposed to be reassuring if it hadn’t stopped Sendak and Bogh from torturing Katie right in front of her father? Or escaping capture with her? Sendak was still running circles around them, and so far, Brodar’s supposed agent had done nothing but help him get away with it all!

His sour mood had become an incensed one, and he deliberately stood back against the wall, not wanting to let his temper go crazy any more than it already had as Brodar and Kolivan and Antok discussed a few more details.

After Commander Brodar had left them with a few contact details and instructions regarding the team he’d promised them, Keith held up a pair of fingers at his back as the door closed behind him.

“Keith!” Kolivan scowled, his tone annoyed and disappointed. “I realise this has been a stressful series of events, I’m frustrated with the way things panned out today too, but that was out of line!”

“You were thinking it too,” Keith snorted, turning and heading for the door. 

“Keith!”

“You really think Sendak is going to let Katie go free after being around him for so long?” he asked, stopping in the doorway. 

Kolivan’s face faltered.

“If we don't find her, he’s going to ransom drop a body and you know it Kolivan! So I’m very sorry if I’m not grateful that the NCD have decided to tell us they could rescue her right this moment, but decided she isn’t worth it!”

Keith slammed the door behind him, ignoring Kolivan’s shouting as he stalked past the few occupied desks of the taskforce floor, and headed down to the dog pens to pick up Kosmo.

For once, he really didn’t feel like doing any overtime.

* * *

Honestly, these calls need to stop. They never end up going well for anybody involved.  ~~ Except maybe Sendak, but even he’s had problems ~~ Now, _will_ they stop? Of course not. 

Err... Hope you enjoyed the chapter? Stay safe!

*<i>hides from pitchforks under a rock</i>*


	11. What It Is

Keith passed Commander Brodar in the car park after he’d fetched Kosmo from his pen, but didn’t even try to make eye contact with him. Instead he kicked on the magnetics, lifting the bike into the air, revved the engine with pointed volume that was probably a bit higher than the regulations allowed, and took the quickest route home he could.

He knew he was being ridiculous again, but he couldn’t help feeling angry about the whole situation. He felt as though no one else was giving this case the seriousness it needed, or deserved. Did nobody understand that Katie Holt was a living breathing human besides her own family? Did they have any comprehension of the danger she was in, the situation she was enduring?

Had they missed Sendak and Bogh both branding her skin like she was a piece of leather? Or was it just his behavioural analysis training that made him suspicious that they were already getting close to the point where they were running out of time?

Certainly not the NCD. He knew their investigative teams were well trained, perhaps better, in individual cases for serial killers and Soulmark related crime, but as far as Purificationist were concerned, they had always been too few steps behind to make any difference.

Now Brodar and Mozak had the gall to come in and try to look like they were helping with out of date information just because they were worried about their later glory in removing the cult threat?

It was disgusting.

Once home, and Kosmo had been fed and was gnawing on one of his long-mauled toys on the blanket at the end of Keith’s bed, Keith flopped down, and more or less fell asleep on top of the covers, finally running into the stress of the day that had been following him.

The next day, he had a message from Kolivan telling him to take a couple of days off. To recharge. To focus on anything but the case. That he’d be contacted about any major breakthroughs, but that he should rest up and try to calm down a little before he came back to it. 

Keith was glad to know he wasn’t fired or suspended, but the thought of trying to focus on anything else was ridiculous. So he settled for as close a compromise as he could make.

He avoided the station, taking his laptop to a coffee shop and working on the reports from the crime scene, catching up on some paperwork for other cases that had sadly been all but forgotten as the current one consumed the vast majority of police manpower.

It was five days after the video call as he hung around the flat, made a low-energy attempt at cleaning, and really, genuinely tried to clear his mind, taking Kosmo for their evening run in a bid to banish thoughts of the case from his head, when they got some news.

He’d shoved a frozen baked potato in the oven and gone for a shower, stepping out long enough to have missed another plethora of messages from Kolivan, along with the new information.

Well, information was pushing it a bit, but Keith pounced on his phone as soon as he saw all the alerts he’d missed. 

It was a screenshot of a messaging system with a photo of Katie; the timestamp next to it indicated it had been received about an hour ago, but whether it was recent or not was dubious. 

It was a shot of her in the boot of a car, still unconscious, tied up as she had been in the video call when Sendak drugged her. Had she been drugged that long? Or had this just been kept from him for a couple of days? No, if it had been sent earlier, Kolivan would have told him.

Had they been travelling for three days? Since leaving the video call? Keith, for the sake of the woman in the photo, hoped that they hadn't. Being drugged with Q for that long was nothing less than dangerous if the notes Romelle had sent him the other day after testing the bottle and needles found at the crime scene were any indication.

‘ _Stopped earlier to check she hadn’t choked; no worries, she’s just sleeping._ ’ Bogh had captioned the image.

It must have been from Matt’s phone. He also had another message beneath the caption: ‘ _Sendak would love it if you wanted to put on another show tonight. You should take point Matt—your dad has a lot of catching up to do, after all. Make it a good one!_ ’

Keith let a string of words that Thace or his mother wouldn't have scolded him for with anything less than the terrifying look of affronted disappointment only parents could manage.

Of _course_ Sendak wanted another press conference! The media was already swarming Feyiv on very single channel, or outside the Holt family home, the station, the Voltedge Labs!

Keith stared at it, his knuckles turning white as he gripped his phone a little too tightly than he ought to have for something as comparatively simple as Bogh’s regular photo updates.

He really needed to call Mrs. Lowes. Bogh was someone he couldn’t quite pin into place. He absently wondered if he was the agent from the NCD. If he was it would make sense, but it would also be horrifying.

Bogh had been involved with the Holt family for two years; if he had been an agent, and hadn’t warned _someone_ of the impending Voltedge attack, then either he had gone way too deep undercover, or the NCD had even less moral worth than he had thought.

He couldn’t really think of anyone else it could be though.

Shaking the thoughts from his head—thinking about it got him all wound up again—Keith turned to the rest of the messages. A few more irritated messages from Kolivan, and a missed call. Not from Kolivan but Romelle.

Blinking in surprise, Keith checked for any messages before returning the call, setting his phone on speaker so he could grab his food.

‘ _Keith!_ ’ her voice sounded stressed. ‘ _Sorry for not leaving a message; I was worried you were driving. I tried the station but Antok said you weren’t in the office. Are you okay?_ ’

“Just aggravated and feeling like I need to wallow in alcohol for a while,” Keith sighed, grabbing the oven gloves and pulling the tray out, picking up the potato with his fingertips and quickly dropping it into a bowl. “It’s fine. I was in the shower,” he said, cutting it open with a knife and lathering butter and salt and pepper into the steaming flesh. “Long story short Commander Brodar happened ,so I’ve been working from outside the station till I can think properly. What’s up? Did Matt get another message?”

Romelle sighed. ‘ _I was hoping I could ask a favour?_ ’ she asked; there was a bit of a frustrated crack in her voice he wasn’t used to from her, and started as he opened his fridge for the pot of cottage cheese. 

“Go ahead,” he said a little worried, spooning the curd cheese onto the potato with more salt and pepper.

‘ _Matt and Sam… they had a huge fight earlier,_ ’ his friend sniffed. ‘ _It’s been tense for a while, and I’m worried being stuck together is making things worse. He… Colleen is worried about him being by himself but he and Shiro already left._ ’

“Text him my address,” Keith said, understanding what she wanted, but was also trying not to ask. “He can stay here for a few days if he needs. I’ve got enough room for him and Mr Shirogane. It’ll be company for a few days.”

‘ _Is that really okay?_ ’ she asked. ‘ _Are you sure?_ ’

“It’s fine. Are you okay at the safehouse?” he wasn’t sure if he liked the idea of Romelle staying with her in-laws after a big family fight. 

‘ _I’m fine, Bandor and Avok are coming around in a while. I’m going to go and stay with them for the night while Colleen and Sam talk. I think we all just need some space. One of the guards is coming with me too,_ ’ she assured him. ‘ _I’ll call Shiro and tell him to head your way. Thanks again Keith, I really appreciate this._ ’

“Don’t worry about it,” Keith assured her. 

With a few parting words, the phone call ended, and Keith headed into the living room with his food, the smell of which had drawn his mooching dog to his feet with imploring eyes.

He caught up on the recent story coverage on the news as he ate and waited for the doorbell to sound, giving Kosmo the last few morsels just as it rang through his flat.

Opening the door, Matt looked a little awkward but smiled in greeting. “Uh hi, this is a little weird, but thanks for letting us stay here while I run away from my dad,” he offered.

“I’m running away from Kolivan,” Keith commiserated, holding the door open for them. “So we’re in the same boat. If it weren’t for the fact we’ll have to leave again in about ten minutes, I’d be looking through my alcohol cupboard right now.”

They just had time to get Matt and Shiro’s things inside before Keith had to lock up the door again so they could head over to the Voltedge labs for the conference. Rather than take his bike, he joined Matt in the car, which Shiro took the driving seat for.

He felt a little uneasy—the only people he could feel comfortable in a car with were either Romelle, Thace, or his mother—but soon decided Shiro had at the least tolerable driving skills. Enough that Keith didn’t want to yank the steering wheel out of his hands like he had the one time he’d let Lance drive in the academy.

“Do you mind if I get a look at the message Bogh sent you?” Keith asked Matt. “I have a picture but it was a screenshot from Kolivan’s phone, so the quality wasn’t the best.”

Matt nodded, opening a bottle of water from his backpack, and handing over his phone without a word. Keith looked at the picture again, opening his laptop bag and pulling out a pen and paper pad to write some notes down. There wouldn’t be much, and the photo would be analysed by the digital and forensics teams, but he liked to have his own ideas on paper where he could find them.

“How are you feeling?” he asked after glancing at Bogh’s messages again. 

Matt let out a breath. “Sick. Tired. Angry, not great,” he sighed. “Dad wanted to take over the press conference—he was worried about me going into it, me, the guy _running_ his fucking media team,” he snorted. “But that wasn’t really the problem. It’s like he’s been appropriating all his paranoia for Katie onto me, so when he tried to barge in, it was all mixed up and I kind of lost it.”

“That’s putting it lightly,” Shiro said from the front seat. “But you know he’s not just being paranoid this time Matt.”

“Yes,” Matt groaned, “I _know_ that Shiro. If Sendak decides threats aren’t enough and kills my sister, I could be his next target, I _get_ it. Still doesn’t change the fact that he’s kind of being irrational right now!”

Obviously the same precautions his sister had tolerated since her sixteenth birthday were starting to grate on Matt’s nerves, unused to the constant lack of absolute privacy.

“Kolivan can talk to your dad,” Keith said, before another fight could start, something none of them needed. “But as frustrating as it is, Shiro is right. Sendak has targeted you once Matt,” he said gently. “I think the only reason he’s taken Katie instead is the fact that she came across as more vulnerable; logistically speaking, _you_ were the easier mark.”

“You mean it’s not because it’s easier to kidnap a four-foot-nine woman than a six-two guy?” Matt asked, paling a little. “How on earth was I the _easier_ choice?”

“It maybe played a part, but it wasn’t just Shiro; your sister's apartment has higher security, and her office was on the floor with the most cameras. There was more work involved to take her,” Keith shrugged; he had given up on the photo—there wasn’t much beside Bogh’s wording to look at in it—and was absently doodling, trying to keep his mind active and open. 

“I don’t know, I think he just picked her because he knew she’d never be able to fight Bogh off,” Matt shrugged

“Again, true, but if Bogh has been informing Sendak of the details of your personal lives for so long, then it’s entirely possible he knows _why_ she was given a bodyguard in the first place, and is just playing into your parent’s paranoia regarding her words. They're pre-primed to react more if he knows they were already worried about her safety,” he paused. “Especially if it’s Soulbond related; considering what the cult’s main beliefs are built around he’d be inclined to target that.”

Matt nodded. “I keep thinking about that too.” He sipped at the water watching him write. “Our parents are hoping that somehow they turn out the way they sound, that someone’s going to drag her out of there, but I can’t see how it’s going to work.”

Keith shut the notebook, tapping his pen against the cover; he was terrible at this reassurance side of his job. So far, he’d got by because Kolivan and Regris, or one of his other team members was reasonably better or more informed to console victims and their families, but Matt wasn’t exactly a regular victim.

He was married to one of his best friends, and Keith wanted to get along with him besides working towards the rescue of his sister. It helped that he and Matt had several similar interests to build off, so he wanted to try and ease his mind whilst still being reasonable in terms of the case.

“If it makes you feel any better when I first got my words, I was terrified I’d grow up and turn into a murderer,” Keith offered. “And so far, I haven’t, though a few more years in the police and I might consider either that or PI work,” he joked. 

“Are you left handed?” Matt asked, his eyes on the pen Keith was still holding. “I thought… You had your fork in your left hand the other night though?”

Keith paused his tapping, looking at the pen. He hadn’t even thought about it, but when he was hand-writing he did favour his dominant hand. “Yeah, but I got sick of people acting like I was doomed just because of which hand my soulmate’s words ended up on, so I learned to be ambidextrous pretty quickly.”

Matt winced. “That bad?”

Keith nodded. “That bad,” he said, pausing, waiting to see if Matt was going to ask any more, or probe for a look at the words hidden beneath the cuffs of his gloves. He didn’t really want to dig them out, but thankfully Matt didn’t press the subject. “I’m pretty sure they’re on one of those lists that the NCD says they don’t have somewhere, but that’s how I ended up in the police,” Keith added, quirking a lip, hoping the joke lightened the topic. “That and I'm from Yendailian, and emergency services will look over nearly anything at the training levels if it means another off-grid driver.”

“And to think I always used to complain about mine,” Matt sighed. “I never thought Katie’s were that scary. I think it’s actually interesting in its own way when I hear about other peoples,” he mused. “Not enough to go into soulscience, but I always look at clickbait links, you know?” 

Keith nodded. “The school counsellor always had to check in with me every term to make sure I wasn’t taking them too literally and junk, but if I hadn’t had words like that, I don’t know if I would have made it here so quickly,” he said, pausing to think again. “I still worry about them, obviously, but I’m not as hung up over them anymore because I know they don’t shape every aspect of my life.”

Regris would be so much better at this. Looking out of the window, he could see they were pulling up towards the road on the outskirts, the end of which sat the Voltedge laboratory building. 

“What I’m trying to say is that you have some reason to keep hoping if you want to judge this by you sister’s words, if you want or even believe in that reassurance. On the one hand, they could be something that happens after this, later, or your parents could be right,” he reasoned. “They could be literal like yours were, or it could be completely obscure until you get the context from the situation the way Romelle did; my point is that words don't really lean one way or the other, but whichever way you go, neither way suggests this will end in a worst-case scenario?”

None of this was making sense, but Matt seemed to perk up a bit, so Keith assumed that meant that he’d helped. Sort of. That was good enough.

“So, I was arguing with my dad about self-fulfilling prophecy, and how his taking over the press conference when I was the one _told_ to do it was probably just going to have the opposite effect,” Matt began cautiously after a pleasant silence watching the edges of the city fade into its industrial and retail suburbs. “What were you arguing with the Chief Superintendent about?”

Keith felt his temper flared again and stomped it down. “I really wish I was allowed to tell you,” he said, completely sincere. “But it's left-handed, bureaucratic _bullcrap_ and I was blatantly told _‘nobody else outside this room_ ’, but I promise if you knew, you’d want to bust someone’s kneecaps too.”

In the front seat, listening to their conversation, but otherwise concentrating on getting through the mob of press at the front gates of the Voltedge Labs, Shiro winced. 

The car pulled through the security gates, making its way along the grid towards the front entrance. Someone took the car from Shiro as he and Matt stepped out and headed inside, the new stress of the press conference beginning to replace the background tensions plaguing them both.

* * *

The press conference went as well as the first one had. 

When a failed rescue attempt occurred in a kidnapping case that was starting to get more than just national media attention, that was inevitable. Three more days had passed since the conference, and the media fallout had only been stirred up more with the new activity and information.

So far nobody had leaked the collateral price of Katie’s release to the press, and they hadn’t been able to find a source on it, but there were ongoing debates and suspicions; Samuel Holt was a well-known technology developer, and he had already developed tech that had helped circumvent damage in Purificationist attacks.

If people didn’t make assumptions that he’d been asked to make the opposite, or make something to help them in their attacks, then the news crews wouldn’t have been doing their jobs properly.

Sendak hadn’t phoned the conference, but he did send Sam a message, another video, which Keith was currently replaying, back in the office. He and Kolivan were still on edge, and he was pretty sure his team were giving the two of them a wide berth, but for all his irritation regarding the way the NCD had decided to get involved, he wasn’t angry at Kolivan.

Mostly just a bit awkward about how violently his anger had been sprouting in the case as a whole. It was unusual. Keith knew he was probably more invested because of the connection Katie had to his own friend. At the very least, he wanted to find her so that Romelle could see he sister-in-law again.

There was also the bigger, more public aspect of the case to take into account; Sendak’s desire for media involvement and the fact that he was taking such care and detail with his endeavour was not something to ignore. This kidnapping, and the results of it, meant something to him. 

Keith got strong impressions that if they succeeded here, it would be a huge blow to the Purificationists as a whole. Absently, Keith wondered if the agent in the ranks had enough leverage to find out what it might be, or even if they already knew.

Guts churning at the thought of having to go talk to Kolivan, Keith turned his attention back to the video. It had been taken late, or where there was very little lighting. Katie was lying on a mattress, her eyes unfocused as she talked with Bogh.

‘ _...ou tell them how to find us? _ ’ he asked her.

She looked terrible. She hadn’t looked great in the second call, but the effects of the drug obviously still affecting her at the time the video was taken had obviously taken their toll alongside the burns and slowly growing list of injuries she’d been subjected to.

She stared at Bogh, confused, frowning, her lack of awareness initially sending a shill through Keith the first time he had seen the video.

‘ _ No, someone would hear, _ ’ she mumbled. ‘ _ Macidus was there. I couldn't. He’d have cut us off, and I–I just wanted to talk to them. I miss them. I want to go home… _ ’

‘ _ I know you do, _ ’ Bogh; Keith couldn’t tell if he was feigning his sympathy to try and coax more information out of the woman while she was compliant, and lacked the cohesion to know one wrong answer would end in nothing but more misery. ‘ _ But you knew where you were? _ ’ he pressed her. 

Katie shook her head weakly. ‘ _ I saw Teludav Tower, but… It was dark, and... I was scared. My head hurt. I wasn’t sure. _ ’

‘ _ During the storm? When the glass scratched you and you had that scare, huh? _ ’ 

That explained the bits of broken glass in the room that Ezor had found with Katie’s blood on. The weather must have blown the window in, and given her the only information that could have lit a fire of escape back up when Katie had been shown to be increasingly downtrodden in the photo and video messages. 

Bogh sucked in a breath, looking over his shoulder at the person holding the camera. Was Sendak in the room too? The camera hadn’t turned, so he couldn’t tell. ‘ _ And you really didn't tell anyone? _ ’ Bogh checked again.

Katie shook her head, ‘ _ Someone would hear, Macidus was there, _ ’ she all but sobbed, curling up on herself a little more. ‘ _ I–I just wanted to talk to them. I miss them. I want to go home... _ ’

Somehow, she had managed to avoid telling them about the subterfuge, and even replaying the video, Keith felt his heartbeat settling with relief every time he re-watched the denial coming from her lips. By accident or deliberate effort on her part, she had avoided any incrimination between herself and her brother.

During the conference, Matt had been told to reveal how the police teams had found the bunker. Regris had joined him onstage for that, and by fate’s blessing, what they had said matched up to this video; it had been sent after the conference was over, and with contact cut, there was no way Sendak could say they had been colluding, and Keith thanked the stars for it.

The video cut off with Bogh giving Katie some water, and after watching it again, reading up on the notes from the media teams analysis of the footage (which more or less said ‘it’s somewhere dark, but it was taken before the conference and after the photo. At some point. We think?’), he left the video for a call from reception.

Heading down the stairs, he was given the number of a free interview room, and after making sure he had all his notes and datapad, he made his way along the hall. In the waiting area sat a well-dressed woman with thick, blue hair and a pinched, troubled expression, her hands clenched on her lap.

“Mrs Lowes?” he checked.

Bogh’s wife looked up from her hands, face pale, but more determined than her hunched shoulders and anxious demeanour would have suggested.

“Detective Inspector Hawkins,” Keith said, holding out his hand once she had stood up. “We spoke on the phone. Thank you for coming down to speak with us.”

She looked cautious, but in the same way most people called in as witnesses usually did. “Of course,” she said. “I’m sorry for the delay.”

Keith merely nodded, stepping to one side, looking towards the hallway. “If you’ll follow me to one of the interview rooms, we can get started.”

The interview rooms were bland and basic with a table and a few chairs, and a jug of water and some glasses sitting waiting for them. Once Ladnok was settled, Keith went through the basics, first checking her identity, name, number of children, address, job, and all the other details, before explaining why she had been asked to come in.

“I’m sure you’ve seen the news coverage of the case with Voltedge and Katie Holt,” he said—Ladnok nodded—loading a picture up on his datapad. “We’re already fairly sure of his identity, but before we go any further, can you please confirm for me that this is your husband?” He asked, turning the datapad towards her, displaying one of the images of Bogh captured from one of the video messages.

Her face was white as she looked at it, anger and fury more than confusion before she nodded and handed him back the pad. “That’s him,” she nodded.

“Thank you,” Keith said. “There’s no way to put it kindly, so I will be frank with you Mrs Lowes, your husband has revealed himself through his role in the kidnapping of Miss Holt as a Purificationist cultist; he’s currently wanted for the kidnapping and torture of Katie Holt, arson, and eleven counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to murder, terrorism, destruction of property, and GBH for his role in the bombing of Voltedge Headquarters,” he said, watching her hands tighten. 

“I’ve figured as much since I saw the news break in Drazan,” she said. “Though I think I’m still a bit shocked by it all. I had to pull the kids out of boarding school and set up home tutors for them, work wants an interview with me, I just… I just can’t believe he’s gone this far.”

Keith’s curiosity piques at the words ‘gone this far’. It was an unusual way to phrase herself. “Bogh has displayed his beliefs around you before?” He asked.

She frowned and bit her lip. “Not exactly,” she told him. “It’s more how he reacted to stories on the news. You know when you hear about bond purists who won’t allow family to see their grandmother dying because soulmates have precedence in some places,” she explained. “Or…the way he talked about them. He never had much opinion on them, said he didn’t want the kids to define their entire lives around someone they might never meet, which isn’t really a bad thing, but… he was always very sure of it.”

Keith nodded. “Before working with the Holts, did he have any hobbies? Places he went, clubs, sporting activities, unusual work placements?”

“Before he started working as Katie’s bodyguard he was just a bouncer. He worked all hours of the night and I was lucky if I got to see him at weekends at all, let alone before seven-‘o’-clock.

“You’ve met Miss Holt and her family before then?” he checked.

“Not often, but I’ve met her a few times, “Ladnok nodded. “When he got the job, Mr Holt invited us all for dinner, and I sometimes saw her when I met up with Bogh between work. Katie made ‘ _ plans _ ’ that happened to be in the same areas so that we could meet up when our schedules clashed.” she said with a kind of bittersweet fondness in her voice. “She’d message me for clothing tips sometimes, and she went to university with one of my older children, Vrek. They’re good friends. We… We always got along well.”

Keith made sure the recording had caught that, as well as hid notes, before turning back to his list of topics he wanted to cover.

“So, your husband was often out at unusual hours prior to his appointment,” he noted. “Did he ever mention specific places. Business or training trips? Did he have any other behaviours you’d note as strange?”

“He just said his training was here in Marchanda, though he did sometimes go to refresher courses abroad, including when he was working for the Holts,” Ladnok said, her voice a little distance as she thought. “Besides that, everything was normal; he always called and checked in when I was out of the country, and he’s always been a good dad…” she frowned. “Before all this started he flew out to see the girls at school, and he and Vrek were out for the night. They both woke me up with all the photos from the arcade.”

“If you can, I’d like to know the dates of those business trips and training courses, even if it’s just a rough guess,” Keith said–Ladnok nodded. “What about unusual or suspicious behaviour? Did you notice anything in the weeks before the bombing occurred?”

“No, life was the same as always,” Ladnok said. She sounded exhausted already. “The only thing that sticks out was that he didn’t want to make our registry public, though I never gave it much thought at the time.”

“You’re referring to the Soulbond registry?” 

Keith knew Bogh was her soulmate from speaking with the Holts and Shiro about him, but had half-wondered if it was a ruse on his part. It wasn’t strictly speaking illegal not to register a claimed soulbond, not in so many words at least. The law had been passed almost globally, but a few purist governments had added by-laws and ‘ _ reform clauses _ ’ that predictably muddies waters. 

Terra was one of those countries, and while it wasn’t the worst at all as far as bond purism went (Altea and Drule were far worse, and Drazan still had yet to recognise platonic Soulbonds), bond registration was definitely encouraged. Claimed soulmates who registered could get certain benefits, no matter what kind of relationship they had. In contrast, depending on the circumstances, failure to do so could earn fines. 

“You were given an exemption then?”

Ladnok nodded. “He didn’t want us to have it listed, said it wasn't anyone's business how we met,” she shrugged. “I didn’t think it was that important, and since I work in press and media, we met the criteria,” she explained. “I’m not really famous but I do have a significant public following through my work, so I’ve never advertised my soulbond status. It’s just the sensible thing to do, so I didn't try to persuade him otherwise.”

Keith added another note to look that up as they continued to talk, getting more details about Bogh’s habits, his attitudes towards Soulbonds in general, how he acted. He hadn’t seen anything in the system when he first started looking into Bogh’s background. It was possible the traces of his soulbond status had been hidden, but frankly that made even less sense.

Most Purificationist either burned their words off, or faked their words if they had already claimed a (usually dead) soulmate. It allowed them to blend in with the population either by hiding the scars, or by showing a blank wrist and explaining the unfortunate passing of their universal other-half.

But Bogh hadn’t just met and stayed with Ladnok, he’d tried to hide her. Was his need for a genuine persona to the Holts so paramount? or was this the anomaly it looked to be? Or just a coincidence?

“I hate to ask this, but… are you one hundred percent certain that Bogh was your soulmate?” he asked. 

Ladnok nodded. “I watched my words disappear the day we met,” she said, one hand gripping lightly at her left wrist. “I remember being so relieved I wasn’t one of those unlucky stories,” the smile faded from her lips. “I just had to wait a little longer for it to turn from a fairy tale into a nightmare, I suppose.”

Keith presumed this was the point where he was supposed to offer a bit of reassurance and positivity, but what exactly did you say in this situation. ‘ _ Sorry your husband and father of your children is a kidnapper and an arson terrorist, but I’m sure it’ll all work itself out _ ’ didn’t really feel appropriate.

There weren’t even any tissues he could offer, but Ladnok looked like she had gone through the crying stage already; she seemed disheartened, but she was mostly worried, and angry. 

“Have you had any contact him since the bombing?” he asked finally, trying to sound reasonably gentle. “Has he tried to contact you at all?” he tried. “Any video calls, messages, missed calls, voicemails?”

Ladnok shook her head. “I’ve tried, but I haven’t heard anything from him,” she said. “His phone keeps going to voicemail.There were a few missed calls from an unknown number,” she said, pulling her phone from her bag, and handing it over to him. “But since I didn’t recognise the number and couldn’t call back, I deleted them. Then I watched the conference, when Mr Holt announced what had happened to Katie…”

“We’ll need to take your phone for evidence purposes,” Keith said, quickly putting the phone into a plastic bag. “Once the digital team is done with it, you should be able to reclaim it, it might be a few hours at most, and you’ll be supplied with a replacement in the meantime,” he informed her.

Ladnok nodded leaning forward on her elbows onto the table, running her hands through her hair. “You said he’ll be charged with torture and manslaughter…” her voice trailed off, a silent question in it. “What kind of… What has he done?”

“Your husband’s role in the kidnapping, for which the explosion at Voltedge occurred, marks him down as complicit in terrorism and conspiracy to murder charges; eleven people died as a result, so he’s also complicit in the manslaughter charges. He’s been witnessed since, preforming an act of torture on Miss Holt which caused her physical injury. I’m sorry, I can’t tell you any more details, just that all the charges are based on our contact with him, and evidence we’ve been gathering,” he said. “Given the nature of the case, and your close relationship to one of the suspects, if you wish, we can put arrangements in place for you and your children to go into witness protection. If that’s something you’d be interested in, I can take you to the department after we finish up.”

Ladnok took a breath and nodded. 

“For the moment, I’m going to recommend you tell your manager, CEO, whoever that you’ve been told by police that you can’t talk about the case,” he said firmly. “Besides what’s already been demanded and is now unfortunately necessary, any additional media fuel could be potentially detrimental to the investigation, and Miss Holt’s already perilous situation. Please, do not discuss this with your employer, friends, or anyone beyond immediate family. Please take the time to make sure your children understand this too.

Ladnok nodded, more firmly this time. “Of course, I assumed as much,” she said. “I’ll speak to the kids. I… should I tell them? What Bogh is going to be charged with? I’ve pulled them out of school but… I... I don’t know how to talk about this with them.”

The woman looked like her world had been ripped out from under her feet, and Keith wished he were more of a people person, or Romelle was here. Or Regris. Regris could make anyone stop crying, or generally just perk them up when they’d been told horrible things that began with ‘ _ we regret to inform you… _ ’ or ‘ _...require your assistance identifying a body. _ ’

“I can take you to one of the victim support consultants,” he told her calmly. “If you need help discussing things with your kids, they can send someone along or give you advice.”

“I think I’d appreciate that,” she nodded. “Is that everything?”

“For now, but we may need to contact you again for follow ups as we get more information, but for now, yes,” he assured her, getting to his feet. “I can introduce you to and show you where you can find victim support,” he added, holding out a small card. “This is the office hotline. If you can think of anything else besides what we’ve discussed, please call us, no matter how small.”

She took the card and Keith went through the building with her, introducing her to one of the support officers. Once she was talking to a woman about witness protection, Keith turned and headed back up to the main floor.

He was so busy mulling over the details and information Ladnok had given him that he didn’t notice Kolivan standing by his temporary desk until he was almost on top of it, and had to stall himself to keep from walking into the Chief Superintendent.

“How did it go?” Kolivan asked. Keith was suddenly keenly aware of many sets of eyes trying very hard not to watch them talk.

“It was okay, not sure what to think yet, but she might have had contact with Bogh just before the first press conference. Unidentified number,” he said, holding up the bagged phone.

“Regris will like that,” Kolivan grunted. “They finished with the computer. I’m going down to check it, so you can bring that along.”

Keith tried not to falter as he nodded, guessing he too was going down to the media lab now from the tone in his superior's voice. “Sure.”

“There’s something else.”

Keith got the impression from Kolivan’s expression that the slightly more upbeat mood that had come from finally talking to Bogh’s wife was about to be swept back down the drain it had just crawled back from. 

“There’s another message.”

Kolivan handed him a datapad, opened up into a photo of another phone screen–Colleen's, it ran on a different operating system to Sam and Matt’s–which had one message, sent from Bogh, but invariably at Sendak’s behest.

‘ _ Tell Matt congrats on the press conference–he did great. Not surprising, he is head of the media section, but still. Tell him next job is video editing; Sendak wants to see you share your story with the world, especially his sister’s. Don’t be too shy unless you want Katie to play another game of dot-to-dot. He has four days. Talk again soon Mrs Holt! _ ’

Keith had to stop himself from throwing the datapad across the room, instead settling himself for some angry mutters and curses as he followed Kolivan along the hallway to the media room.

Back down the drain indeed.

* * *

“So, which pictures are we planning on sending?” Keith asked, feeling weariness setting in just thinking about the media storm that was going to hit them with Sendak’s latest demand. 

‘ _Tell Matt congrats on the press conference—he did great. Not surprising for the head of media, but still. Tell him the next job is video editing; Sendak wants to see you share your story with the world, especially his sister’s. Don’t be too shy unless you want Katie to play another game of dot-to-dot. He has four days._ ’

Sendak wanted to publicise footage and photos of Katie’s treatment, the kidnapping itself, the torture she’d already been subjected to. He suspected it was to get back his feel of control of the situation; he would likely make Katie watch it, and a kind of mental torture through public humiliation to keep her compliant and docile, as well as put pressure on Sam, advertising his control.

The idea of him trying to deliberately humiliate the woman made his teeth grind more than anything else, but Keith stomped his anger down as he and Kolivan walked down the stairs to the main media lab; he’d already had one outburst this week. He didn’t need another one, or Kolivan would probably suspend him. 

As right to be angry as he felt he was, it was completely unprofessional. Kolivan was right every time he warned him not to get too invested in Purificationist cases; he always took them personally after a while, but this one had been the worst so far.

“I was hoping you would have some suggestions; I don’t think we can get away with just using some of the footage from her calls with her family,” Kolivan grumbled. 

Keith thought about the message, the threat of a burning, tar infused dot-to-dot game and grunted in agreement. “I don’t think so either,” he sighed. “Sendak will want something stronger in there,” he frowned, thinking. “He didn’t specify what he wanted in footage or photos though, so I think we could get away with some of the kinder footage and a couple of stills of the less pleasant instances.”

“Anything in mind?” Kolivan prompted.

Keith thought about it, then smirked. “Put some of the footage out from when she was talking to Matt about KBP. Not the part she mixed up, someone could work that out the same way Matt did if they were smart enough, just a mention of it. Something simple,” he reasoned. “It’s more endearing, and set it after a still of Bogh burning her. She’ll look brave, people like that; it’ll be subtle, but it might endear public sympathy for her rather than what Sendak wants,” he said. “Mat would probably be able to judge well, so ask him too.”

“I’ll let Zethrid know,” Kolivan nodded as they reached the corridor leading to the media labs. “She’s working with Matt and Colleen in going through it all right now. 

He opened the door to the labs, and Started tapping a message out on his datapad as Keith pulled a spare chair and rolled it across the floor towards the desks where Antok was playing footage taken from the computer at the crime scene.

“I heard you found a lot of footage? Anything of the NCD agent at all?” he asked. “I’d _really_ like to know who’s in there, and what they look like.”

Antok winced visibly. “I did…” he said hesitantly. “...but my superiors ordered me to delete it from these servers after I’d sent them the copies. I swear, I argued against it, but… I’m sorry. I don’t agree with them, but I still have to follow the Director General’s orders. I can’t even send it to Brodar, and he’s actually _trying_ to help.”

Keith took a moment to process that, strangling the threatening outburst that tried to rise up into submission, putting a hand on Antok’s shoulder. “It’s alright Antok. I’m not really surprised he told you to do that, dick that he is,” he sighed. “I take it the agent is the reason the computer still exists without being scorched beyond belief?”

Antok nodded. “He deactivated the system reset that Sendak started, and a timer that had set the building to blow up,” he said. “So, we should probably thank him for that, but besides that? I’m on your guys’ side,” he grunted. “I’ve been going through the footage they took keeping Katie under surveillance, and besides the few instances between when I think she was arguing with them, they’ve been treating her as claimed thus far, though with only her room and the bathroom connected to it, there isn’t much to go on.”

He pulled up the image onto a larger screen as Kolivan joined them. “This is before the second call, the twenty-second of July, twenty-six days ago. We haven’t got through it all yet, but the observation team highlighted this part as unusual,” he explained.

It was footage of Katie being taken to the bathroom connected to her room. Bogh untied her legs after she had eaten, sitting her down just inside the doorway before untying her arms and quickly slamming it closed behind her, the door locked with a couple of heavy, pin tumbler style night latch locks that he twisted into place on the bedroom camera.

Inside the door, Keith watched as Katie pulled clothes from a hold all, a set of loose clothes that he recognised from one of the later videos. “Is there sound?” he asked.

Antok nodded. “There is, but so far she hasn’t said anything. The first time he let her shower, Bogh told her he’d come in and gag her again if she started shouting, no matter what state she was in, so I think she’s being cautious and using the time for a break, as much privacy as she can get.”

Keith nodded, and turned his attention back to the video; at first, she just stayed seated on the floor before getting to her shaky feet and examining the room more closely, checking the cupboard, around the shower curtain.

“She does that every time Bogh lets her in to use the toilet or shower,” Antok said. “One of the female agents is watching the full reels by the way… it sounds stupid but I’d like to let her keep a little bit of her dignity if we can,” he sighed.

Keith wouldn’t help agreeing; he remembered the first call; ‘ _I checked it for cameras…_ ’ Katie had told her father when she’d told them about her wash routine and tried to assure him she was being given privacy. ‘ _…but unless they’re in the walls, I couldn’t find any._ ’

She had clearly been right to be suspicious, and remained as such in the clip, pulling her clothes off behind the shower curtain, leaving the clean ones where she could easily grab them from behind the meagre but serviceable barrier to the camera lens. 

“Were there any behind the shower?” he asked Regris and Antok.

“No, that was one place they didn’t have them, thank fate’s mercies” Antok said _—_ he was nursing a cup of black coffee that, judging from the rim marks on the mug, was definitely not his first one that morning.

Keith knew he wasn’t the only one making use of the sofas and beanbags, and showering up in the training gym. The air of time deteriorating was starting to weigh on them all after the last call. Sendak may have been forced into a retreat, but he’d still had his claws out. His impatience was starting to show, and Keith didn’t think they would be able to push him again.

Looking back at the video, Keith watched as Katie’s hand gripped the opposite end of the shower railing. One of her feet was poking out from beneath the curtain too. She had been there a while, and nearly lost her grip on the railing and her footing from shakes brought by strain. The timer was far along in the semi-sped video too.

“What’s she doing?” he asked. “She’s been standing there for about half an hour,” he asked. He couldn’t remember the interior of the bathroom, and the message from Sendak had made him angry enough he’d forgotten his reference notes on his desk, but she couldn’t have been thinking of trying to fit through the vent, surely?

A few moments later, she stepped down, the shadow behind the curtain sitting down in the base of the tub beneath the shower again. Then there was a bang on the door over the sound of the shower running, making the woman jump from the way she nearly lost her grip on the shower railing. and Bogh’s voice echoed over the speakers.

‘ _How long are you planning to take in there?_ ’ he shouted. 

‘ _S-Sorry,_ ’ Katie replies immediately, her start in her voice. ‘ _It’s hard to stand up for so long okay? My legs and arms are killing me! I have to sit in the tub, and it takes longer! I’m nearly done._ ’

Kolivan frowned. “She told Bogh she didn’t see Teludav Tower until the window was broken during the storm. That’s thirteen days away from the date stamp in this video, and she wouldn’t be able to see it from the angle this room is facing through the vent.”

Keith frowned at the not-quite-lie-but-definitely-hiding-something set of words, but waited to see if anything else in the video revealed anything. Katie continued to wash off, pulling a towel and her clothes in behind the curtain once the sound of the water pressure came off. Then he watched as she yanked a long section of toilet roll from the holder on the wall.

Then she got out of the tub, pulling the shower curtain back into place, dumping her pile of used clothes into the holdall, and leaving the used towel on the toilet seat. Then, a few moments after sitting down on the floor, she knocked on the door.

On another screen, Keith watched as Bogh looked through he latched vent in the door, and began to unlock it. Then back on the camera with Katie as he opened the door and grabbed hold of her wrists. “Pause it there?” he asked.

Antok did so, and he scanned over the bathroom, looking for anything around the shower area. Katie had been struggling to support herself standing, so why had she been hanging out in front of the vent for so long if it didn’t offer her anything? She was intelligent, stubborn, and so far, resourceful. What had made her work through the muscular fatigue it would have taken her?

He looked at the vent. “Can you rewind this to a clear shot of the vent? Before Katie entered the room, or the shower?”

Antok complied again, rewinding the tapes. The shot he chose was of the room just before Katie stepped into the shower fully clothed. It was flat against the tiles of the shower back.

“And the last freeze frame?” he asked. When Antok flicked back to the later screen, the vent looked different. There was a corner that was lifted from the wall, casting a shadow.

Kolivan held his datapad between the three of them, flicking through the forensics photos of the crime scene. The vent was indeed lifted away from the wall, and there was a missing screen. Antok flicked back to the starting shot, and let out a whistle of approval.

“She loosened a screw, or a nail?” Keith murmured (‘ _A screw_ ’, Kolivan informed him looking at his photograph). “She’s been looking for something she can use. She knows it had to be in the bathroom. It’s the only time she’s been untied so far, and she’s loosened a screw out of the wall. I’d guess it's hidden in her clothes somewhere.”

They all pondered that, before Antok resumed the tape where they had left off. 

‘ _You didn’t dry your hair out,_ ’ Bogh said

‘ _You were all testy,_ ’ she said, her voice nervous as her wrists were tied. ‘ _I didn’t think… I thought it’d be better to just get out,_ ’ she mumbled.

Bogh stared at her after tying her knees, before finishing the same job, lashing her ankles together.

‘ _W-What?_ ’ she asked.

‘ _Nothing you need to worry over. Can I trust you to keep your mouth shut all by yourself a little longer? Stay quiet and I’ll dry it off a bit for you; I think Twyla’s hair dryer is hanging around somewhere,_ ’ he explained. ‘ _Well?_ ’

Katie flinched at the question. Visibly. It was a start that moved through her shoulders, and Keith’s gut twisted for her. Trust. That was a cruel word to use. Especially from someone who had only betrayed and abused her own. He really was starting to dislike Bogh, potential spy or not. He was twisting his former position in her life to mess with her head, make her uncertain. 

‘ _Does it make that much of a difference?_ ’

‘ _It’s no use to either of us if you catch pneumonia,_ ’ he shrugged. ‘ _I told you; this is only going to be as uncomfortable as you and your father make it Katie. So? Do you want me to dry it off or not?_ ’

“Fate save my ears, am I the only one who wants to punch him?” Antok muttered, switching cameras, watching as Bogh picked her up and dropped her back down on the mattress and stuffing a rag into her mouth before disappearing, and returning with a hairdryer.

Then he calmly and gently dried off and pulled the knots out of her hair, and put new dressing on the first set of burns on the back of her neck, the only ones at the time of the video, before fixing her arms more tightly behind her back, pulled some around her head to keep the gag in place, and left the room.

“She’s got a very strong will power,” Kolivan said, his tone admiring, but guarded, worried. “Keep an eye on these and tell the others watching the tapes to keep track. See if Sendak notices. If he hasn’t noticed, that means she probably still has it.”

“Depending on the size of it, that means she has something she could use to cut herself free, or even use as a weapon,” Keith frowned, trying not to give the woman’s tenacity too much admiration; as much as he did admire it, planning an escape now, when she had been moved to an unfamiliar environment a second time and Sendak was already in poor spirits was… less than ideal.

Antok made a face. “She’s already slipped us information, coded albeit,” he said. “I’d be surprised if she _doesn’t_ try something. Do we know when Matt or Colleen might get contact with her? Sendak was only talking to Mr Holt the other day…”

“I think he’s going to uphold his no-contact terms this time,” Keith grumbled, turning his back on the screen. “I’m going to go find Regris and see what he’s dug up from the rest of the computer, see if there are any locations he's found.”

They had to start all over again on a location, and the need was already higher than it had been before. Before they had leads, they had more time, and the immediate threat of physical harm had been merely a threat; now, they had no leads as yet, had already been searching for over a month, and Katie already bore several scars as marks of Sendak’s dedication to his promises.

Keith just hoped that they could get something out of the preserved computer before Katie decided to take a chance on luck that had already failed her.

* * *

Keith is still Agrny™. But he's trying to be professional. Keyword: ' _Trying_ '. 

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

 **EDIT (14/07/2020):** Added the missing scene regarding Ladnok's interview. 


	12. Stand On The Edge

The footage and photos were ready to be released by the evening. After a great deal of careful consideration, they settled on four photos and three of the clips to be given to the least sensationalist of the news teams covering the kidnapping on a day-to-day basis.

The first photo was a mashup of the ones sent by Bogh to inform them of the kidnapping (the one of Bogh’s shot of the fire was slipped in too). The second was taken from the video of Sendak forcing her to watch the press conference

The third was the one of Bogh helping her to drink some water, with the cereal bowl, and the last an image of her in the room where she had been kept, when she had been untied for an hour. They had picked that one deliberately too. 

Sendak probably knew from the failed explosion that they had been able to access the cameras he had placed there, so he didn’t think it would be too risky, and they needed to avoid content that could be distressing if Katie _was_ going to end up seeing herself broadcast in this way across millions of screens.

The clips were a bit different. The first was of her saying hello to her parents during the second call. The second were sections mixed together, trying to show her staying positive.

One showing the way she back talked Bogh when she mentioned her hygiene routine, and a joint clip of Bogh cutting the back of her jumper open and forcing her head onto the desk, picking up the cigarette, before a section asking Matt to talk about video games, claiming boredom. 

Finally, a clip of her being drugged, this one muted. They’d explained the times between and listed the captions they wanted sent with the clips and the dates. Matt and Romelle were also going to do an interview alongside their release to try and paint them in a way that drew less attention to Sendak, and more attention to Katie. 

If she did see it, then it might even be a way for them to try and tell Katie not to try and do something risky, if the pair could slip it into the conversation with the reporter.

Most news headlines had sympathy with her already. A few were still trying to pin blame on Mr Holt, and those ones had a field day with the failed extraction. Keith was practically salivating with curiosity to know what they were going to say when the next page in the story would be them complying to Sendak’s demands yet again.

To be honest, he shared the frustration, but was doing his best to channel it by going through the footage with Antok; Regris and his team trawled through the computer data looking for something that might indicate a base, and found an absolute mine of information pertaining to other cases already. Several hideouts had been raided and shut down, but so far nothing that would pin Katie to a location.

There was nothing from the FCD about getting access to VPN being utilised by the cult either; Sendak had sensibly chosen a country with which Terra had poor relations, and had plenty of its own bond-law based problems. As long as it brought money in, Drazan didn’t care, and according to Brodar even the FCD hadn’t been able to get the network opened. 

So, Keith sat and watched with Antok, working on a timeline of events, one for Katie, and one for themselves, working his way through things as they occurred, using the cameras to mark things specifically. Zethrid, Tabor, Matt and Romelle came in to help between their own work for the case, or on their breaks, when they all met up in the break room to share information and try and break down what they knew a little more.

Romelle had scribbled it all down, literally, but in interest of making it readable for court and legal proceedings (or even just their reference; after so long they needed a time line just to keep up) Keith had typed it up after her.

He now sat looking over it on his datapad at the edge of the recording studio where the interview was about to take place as Matt and Romelle talked with the teatime news slot host and prepared to go live.

> **_Monday 5_** ** _th_ ** **_July_ **
> 
> _The Voltedge Bombing started throughout the Headquarters building at around 16:39pm. At the same time, Katie Holt was sedated with Kwintanol Quadratic Acid (a tranquiliser-based date rape drug called ‘Q’) and kidnapped by Bogh Torseth and Lahn Chase. Ten minutes later, Bogh could be seen taking Katie out of the back exit to the white microvan waiting for them._

Between the additional footage from the street cameras, Keith had been particularly infuriated with hindsight when they revealed he and his team with the arson squad had walked right past the van. 

Kosmo had been barking at it like crazy—he remembered calming him down—but he’d just thought his dog was excited. He told himself it was hindsight being twenty-twenty, but it was aggravating to know he’d been just meters away, and had he paid more attention, could have done something.

Kolivan and Antok had both told him he was overthinking, that a few barks from his dog at a random van wasn’t enough to make anybody look twice at it, but he couldn’t help feeling guilty all the same. 

He could have helped her before all of this started, but he didn’t, and Keith was sure the only way he’d be able to live with that would be if he found her.

> **_Tuesday 6_** ** _th_ ** **_July_ **
> 
> _Matthew Holt receives a ransom message from Bogh at 02:23am showing Katie Holt in the back of the van, still unconscious. Between 01:30am and 02:55am, Ryner Stirling hears someone screaming out walking her dog, Rover. She hides behind a wall and observes Bogh and Lahn switching cars and drugging Katie a second time before leaving Sur Forest Carpark, County Olkaria. She notes the number plate, and informs local police._
> 
> _Matthew and Colleen contact the police at 07:31am. At 14:29pm, Katie first appears on the bedroom cameras, blindfolded, and with a head injury unseen in the Voltedge footage. She is left sleeping until Bogh collects her._

Judging by the shock and fear when he did, Bogh hadn’t even bothered to wake her up when he slung her over his shoulder. He just carried her off. Unfortunately, they hadn’t found any cameras within the main control hub, so had to rely on the video call footage, audio and visual clues to price some of the rest together.

> _From 18:21pm to 19:40pm, Sendak makes first contact with Samuel Holt. Katie is still drugged and unfocused during the call, but eventually recognises her parents and brother. Sendak strangles her for a moment as he makes his demands and threats, before dropping her onto the floor, and Bogh takes her to her room_
> 
> _In her room, Bogh tries to help Katie ease out of a panic attack, and gives her water and painkillers. When he tries to gag her again, Katie spits at him. Bogh warns her not to talk about her words before leaving her alone._

After that there was a gap, during which time, Regris had found the camera footage from Voltedge and sent off for the angles of the car park they had been missing. With Katie, she had mostly recovered from the traumatic journey and concoction of drug cocktails she’d ended up laced with.

She’d been sick, and though not untied, Bogh and Macidus had both left the gag off of her after that, and she just appeared to sleep unless Bogh came into the room to give her food and water.

Keith found his warning interesting; he was a Purificationist. Keith had been sure Sendak had chosen Katie as his hostage because of her words (which he really needed to look up in the case file—it had been weeks and he still hadn’t checked them properly), but Bogh’s warning implied they weren’t common knowledge amongst the group.

He’d have to rethink it. Checking just to make sure the recording wasn’t about to start, Keith turned back to the rest of the notes.

> **_Friday 9_** ** _th_ ** **_July_ **
> 
> _Katie wakes up more alert at around 10:42am. Bogh has been back during her sleep and gagged her again, presumably expecting her to wake up. He later comes in again to give her some food and water, before he tells her she’s allowed a shower. Bogh lies when she declines, worried about cameras._
> 
> _Eventually Katie relents. He unties her at the door, and she checks around, but remains suspicious and changes, dries off, and dresses again behind the shower curtain._
> 
> _Upon finishing, Bogh tells her through the door-view to sit down, and once opened, ties her up again. He blindfolds her before taking her out of the room, only telling her that Sendak has plans._
> 
> _At 12:33pm, Katie talks to Matthew before Sendak cuts her off after his message demanding a press conference is passed on. In Matthews lab office, hidden cameras that have been planted are later found by security teams._

This was where one of the gaps started. Between leaving the room, and returning, they had no footage of the burns Sendak had given Katie before the call; only recordings of the call footage from her own lips telling her parents about them, Sendak’s response when Keith had pressed him and the cameras in the bedroom confirmed they had happened at all.

Keith didn't particularly want to watch Katie being tortured, but he was interested in what Sendak had said to her, and how it had occurred beyond what Katie had told her parents during the first call. Anything about Sendak’s character would be useful knowledge to have, but there had been no cameras in the main base hub, so that conversation was still a mystery.

He checked over on Romelle and Matt again; he wouldn’t be doing much talking hopefully, just there to control some information flow. The host had tried to get him to agree to take part but Keith had staunchly refused. Satisfied nothing had started happening, he turned back to his datapad.

> _At 12:43pm Bogh returns to the bedroom with Katie. She is clearly in pain and distress, and burns are visible on the back of her neck. Bogh puts some kind of ointment and a bandage on them before gagging her again._
> 
> _Later that day between 18:30 and 23:40pm: The press conference occurs. Sam informs the press about Katie’s kidnapping, and Sendak texts Colleen a message with a video of Katie being forced to watch the press conference. After showing her husband and police the message, he calls her live and informs her that they will speak to Katie in four days’ time, at 17:45pm, and promises updates._

This was something in the photos corroborated by the camera footage; the video had been bad enough as a clip but seeing how the event had occurred with Katie, Keith felt his stomach turn. Sendak hadn’t just made Katie watch the conference though; he’d turned it into deliberate psychological torment.

> _At the same time in the bedroom, Sendak sits beside Katie, turning her face towards a datapad displaying the conference. He flicks a lighter on and off beside her ear as he holds her up._
> 
> _Sendak asks her if she thinks her parents have complied with his demands and how much longer to wait before calling them. She refuses to answer, and Sendak brings it closer to her face as he speaks._
> 
> **_Quote:_ _'_** _Don’t lie now Katie; I promised your father I’d burn your eyes out for lies, and haven’t I been a man of my word so far?'_
> 
> _This threat makes her agree, and he calls Colleen Holt, holding the phone out, possibly on speakerphone:_
> 
> **_CALL TRANSCRIPT:_ **
> 
> **_Sendak:_ ** _‘Thank you for showing Katie that your husband is indeed willing to be cooperative; I’m glad you could be so transparent for her,’ Sendak said._
> 
> **_Colleen:_ ** _‘Please, we’ve done what you asked! Please, let me talk to her!’_
> 
> **_Sendak:_ ** _‘Indeed, you have. Katie’s been right here watching with me, and we’re both satisfied, so no harm will come to her for now. Tell your husband to keep working.’_
> 
> _Sendak then flicks the lighter on again in front of Katie, and she screams, trying to back away._
> 
> **_Sendak:_ ** _‘You’ll speak with Katie in four days’ time. Quarter to six in the evening. Don’t forget. Until then, I’ll be sure to keep you updated on her well-being. You can leave the stage now if you wish, you look a little pale Mrs Holt’_
> 
> _At the end of the conference, after the hotline number has been released to the public, Ryner Stirling calls it to report her observations a second time._

It was positively sickening.

The next few days didn’t have much, just visuals of Bogh taking the photo updates he’d sent to Matt. Katie was very reluctant to comply with any of them, only doing so when Sendak intervened, either flicking the lighter on an off, or holding the end of a lit cigarette out to Bogh.

That finally brought them up to the day of the call itself; it started off when Regris had finished analysing the footage from the cameras, and Bogh had sent Matt a video clip of himself talking to Katie about calling her parents later in the day. 

The room camera confirmed it, and nothing else occurred besides Bogh bringing her lunch, and letting her use the toilet a few times. After that, she was left restrained until later when Bogh arrived just before the call, blindfolding her and taking her out of the room.

From there, they had their own footage and the footage of the video call to use.

> **_Tuesday 13_** ** _th_ ** **_July_ **
> 
> _At 17:45pm Sendak begins the first video call. During conversation with Katie, she confirms a concussion of sorts, explains a bad memory of the timescale as an effect of the drugs she had been given, and tells her parents that the wounds are being given basic treatment. She also says there are no cameras._

That had since been proven false, and her limited belief was probably only due to Bogh. His demeanour through all the videos so far had displayed a manipulative, emotional coercion alongside his manhandling of her. Her own statements showed that Katie was not immune to her undoubtedly uncertain view of the man, and the effects combined with isolation.

She was starting to latch onto Bogh as she had once already as a relative person of trust; not in the same way as before, but compared to Sendak, he was the lesser of the evils to deal with, and the only one she had regular contact with.

> _She goes on to explain how she got the burns on her neck; that being, refusing to talk to Matt at Sendak’s behest._
> 
> _Towards the end of the call, Katie breaks down, begging her father not to comply with Sendak’s demands, begging Bogh for more time, expressing her desire to go home before the timer cuts out. Bogh gags her again, and takes her back to her room._

Between then, nothing occurred until of major interest for some time. Progress had been made in the investigation when they had finally interviewed Ryner.

> **_Sunday 18_** ** _th_ ** **_July_ **
> 
> _At 16:30pm Sendak is in the bedroom, talking to Katie as Bogh helps her eat. He does not look angry or agitated, but after Katie replies to him, Bogh holds her still while Sendak backhands her, splitting the skin around her eye._

Keith had to take a break after that video. He couldn’t lip read, so had no idea what was said, it was too quiet for the cameras to pick up, but he was certain it hadn’t been enough to warrant that kind of reaction from Sendak unless he was already feeling… unwelcoming to commentary.

> **_Thursday 22nd July._ **

That date stood out and his notes on it were as extensive as he could have made them. 

It was the day Katie had pulled out one of the screws from the shower vent, and Bogh had dried her hair for her. Katie had been a little more compliant when he tied her up more securely after drying her hair, and Bogh had also mentioned talking to Sendak about giving her a ‘ _breather_ ’.

He was beginning to see why Katie’s lingering attachments to Bogh had stayed throughout her capture. Away from Sendak, he was kinder. From her perspective, Bogh was practically a saint in comparison. He still seemed to follow Sendak’s orders without question, and his attitude was still detached, but after everything she’d endured by this point, Keith couldn’t blame her for starting to relent around him.

Besides her subterfuge, her obvious search for a way out of the fate damned circumstances she had found herself in, Katie probably didn’t want to piss off the only person who had really treated her with anything close to kindness.

> **_Tuesday 27_** ** _th_ ** **_July_ **
> 
> _Bogh enters the bedroom at around 10:55am, going through the by now standard morning routine, and he informs Katie that after talking about the rope burns and sores she has sustained from her restraints, if she is cooperative, she will be given supervised time untied._
> 
> _Katie agrees, and he pauses to do so, recording the process. Katie is a bit unsure with the immediate effect, but eventually settles and continues eating by herself. She is shaky, and doesn’t move much, but seems a little calmer._
> 
> _At 18:08pm, Matthew receives a message containing a video clip of Bogh removing Katie’s restraints, and after compelling her to speak, she waves to the camera and says, ‘Hi Matt’. Bogh goes on to say she is being rewarded for good behaviour, and that her family will speak to her again the next Saturday (7_ _th_ _august)._

After the video, Katie was left untied for a full hour. She was weak and shaky, but the luxury from just eating on her own appeared to give her some relief. She remained silent, and didn’t try to fight. She just rested, or sat up and stretched a little.

Bogh remained in the room the whole time, reading on his datapad as he had been during the first call, and Katie didn’t make any attempts to talk to him, but the second time she was untied, that wasn’t the case.

> **_Tuesday 01_** ** _st_ ** **_August_ **
> 
> _At 09:25am, Bogh unties Katie her before starting the timer, and for the first ten minutes or so Katie remains mostly still and quiet._

Then Bogh prompted her to speak, displaying a knowledge of her body language that was probably acceptable for a bodyguard but downright unnerving for someone responsible for a kidnapping.

> **_Quote:_ ** _“You always get into a huff when you want to ask complicated questions, but haven’t decided if you’re going to or not; it’s infuriating watching you decide, so get it out into the open, for the sake of both our sanities.'_
> 
> _Katie asks him how long she has been held captive for, which Bogh answers—twenty-seven days at his count. Katie is sceptical until he shows her the date on his phone._
> 
> The dismay on her face had been visible even on the camera grain, but Katie still hadn’t taken it at face value until Bogh had reminded her that no-one had come to her rescue. Keith had ground his teeth watching that after the failed attempt at doing exactly what he’d told Katie wouldn’t happen.

Then she asked him when he’d started working for Sendak and his response—‘ _long before_ ’—made Keith doubly uneasy. 

Either the NCD had already known this was going to happen, but hadn’t tried to stop it for the sake of having someone in the cult hierarchy to breach the upper levels, or Bogh wasn’t just a good actor, and was as much a psychopath and sociopath as Sendak.

> _Katie then goes onto ask Bogh why he still continues to act as he had before._

It apparently had made Katie uneasy too. Or at least, the knowledge that Bogh had been working for Sendak all along yet still managed to maintain a friendly relationship with her, and continued to show her limited kindness did.

> **_Quote:_** _'You're not my bodyguard anymore. You just said you never have been. Why bother when you don't give a damn what happens to me anyway?_ '

The words had been horrible to listen to, because the hurt in them was raw and clear as day, and Bogh’s response hadn’t made it any better.

> _Bogh explains that he doesn't hate her, and considers her purpose for the Purificationists as separate to his personal opinions, and that is why he will not actively seek to be unpleasant or cruel._
> 
> **_Quote:_ ** _'It’s just easier for everyone if I’m the one responsible for you; I’ve been doing that for two years already. Circumstances may have changed for you, but it's still the same job to me.'_

The rest of the conversation was apparently an attempt to gather information, which Bogh found amusing if nothing else. Katie claimed boredom, and eventually, though he plainly refused to let her read anything on his datapad, after she started arguing with him about something to do with an ex-boyfriend, he finally answered her question about the rain.

That she might have been able to make use of, but it was overshadowed by her next question, one Bogh was more reluctant to answer until pressed, before finally telling her that her only way out was an exchange or—confirming Keith’s fears that Sendak wasn’t going to let an eyewitness to his face wander around free—as a dead body.

Then he yanked her by the arm, and dragged her to the bathroom, locking her inside. It had been an action that Keith had slammed his laptop closed on after the end of a long day of watching footage and the rough gesture making him angrier than deserved again.

Glancing around, checking the studio again, Keith calmed himself down, agitated after just reading the notes, and moved onto the next section, the day the storm had hit.

> **_Wednesday 4_ ** **_th_ ** **_August_ **
> 
> _Between 23:46pm and 00:21am, Katie is moved from her room following damage from an offshoot storm over Marchanda caused by Hurricane Ranveig. Before the window is blown in, she has already woken up screaming, presumably from nightmares, and in the midst of a panic attack_.

It wasn’t the first time the cameras had shown her poor ability to sleep, and Keith worried for the woman’s current mental state. The psychological effects of being held captive so long were becoming clearer as each of the videos progressed, and he was starting to see how she had been pushed to gamble on sending her brother a message.

She was starting to get desperate, and desperation could make people act without the reason and logic he’d been given to understand that she was fluent in.

> _The glass is spread around the room during the break, cutting Katie’s face, and her screaming draws the attention of first Bogh, then Sendak. In the chaos, Bogh makes efforts to calm her as he has previously been seen doing, he and Sendak discuss changing location, but settle for moving Katie to a different room._

Sendak confronted her in the midst of her panic, struggling as the two men talked, but it was clearly just for the sake of emotional torment, because he all but brushed her off after that. 

> _After Sendak and Katie ‘talk’, Bogh carries her hanging off the back of his shoulder, heading for the door; Katie has a full view of the broken window._

She’d had a clear perspective of the window, until Sendak had realised that she wasn’t blindfolded as she was every other time she had been taken from the room.

> _Sendak stopps Bogh, and blindfolds Katie, instructing his underling not to take it off her while outside of her own room._

Bogh left the room, and that was the last image of her on the cameras in the bedroom until the most recent, dismal call.

“Keith?”

He looked up, locking his datapad at the sound of Romelle’s voice.

“There ready for us to start,” she said. “Are you okay?” she asked anxiously.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Keith blinked.

“You mean besides being a cloud of anger around the station to the point even _Kosmo_ isn’t visiting you?” she asked, before concern returned to her voice. “Matt told me you talked and mentioned arguing with Kolivan, and I’ve seen Commander Brodar hovering around, she said. “I can imagine it’s something serious.”

Keith tensed. “I’m just frustrated is all,” he said. He couldn’t even tell _Romelle_ about what Kolivan had told him. The only person from the forensics lab who had been told of the agent was Ilun. “I’m worried.”

“About the broadcast?” she asked, sitting down beside him on the chairs at the side of the stage. Matt was watching them both curiously from his seat onstage, but the broadcast was still being set up judging by the microphone he was attaching to his suit lapel. 

“Sort of, but this is Matt’s playground, isn’t it?” he asked. “If you ask me Sendak made a mistake asking him to take point on this.”

Romelle frowned, but nodded. “What are you worried about then?” 

Keith tried to think of something reasonable, he really did, but the sound of the studio klaxon timer stopped the conversation from going any further before he could give her an answer.

Romelle hurried back onto the stage, sitting down beside Matt, and Keith pondered what his response would have been a little more, finding no clear answers as the images they had so carefully and specifically chosen were released into the media wildfire.

* * *

Some things that might show up elsewhere, some things from further back; all of them are important. Keep up the good work Keith!

Also is it just me or is AO3's text formatting going a little weird lately? I keep getting spaces in weird places I did not place extra places, and I am NOT a fan, I'll tell you that one for free; I _hate_ formatting, I dinnae want fekkin' extra. ~~I even typed that in Scots-brogue I'm so mad, I never use that word how long do you think I spent editing it out of my vernacular why you do push me to these extremes AO3?~~

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Take Care!


	13. All It Could Yield

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains scenes of torture and grievous bodily harm. 
> 
> Please check the Series Notes and Tags for Content Warnings. TL:DR in the end notes.

The interview went well, or as well as could be expected. Matt was adept at avoiding questions that were too invasive, or ones he didn’t want to answer, and the host was fairly mild as far as interview reporters went.

He spoke about each of the images and video clips with as much honesty as was safe to give, enough to satisfy Sendak and enough to satisfy the reporters without going overboard, or humiliating his sister any more than Sendak already was by making this demand.

Keith had an uneasy feeling about it; Sendak was trying to show his control over the situation and the cult strength by not only manipulating the Holts and the police, but also the media too. He was trying to turn this into propaganda for the cult’s Anti-Soulbond agenda, and was probably going to make a video of his own at some point.

He’d done so before, and so far, the Purificationists hadn’t actually claimed the Voltedge attack, potentially because they merely thought of it as a diversion, but the lack of a video from Sendak was something even the press had picked up on.

The whole conference took around two hours, and for a while, Keith was worried there wouldn't be a call at all. They even stalled for a little time, Romelle explaining a little of the forensics she’d been working on. And the baby.

Keith knew she’d wanted to keep her pregnancy quiet until Katie had been rescued—she was adamant despite all her reason and logic to be cautions her baby would eventually meet their aunt, he could tell—but going onto the news with Matt when there was a high chance Katie would see it made it difficult to hide.

Instead, she made a joke about refusing to give birth before Katie was home safe and sound, before there was _finally_ a call from Sendak. He didn't let Matt—who answered—speak to Katie, but prompted him to say something to her, so Keith guessed she really had been made to watch the broadcast.

His stomach turned for her, watching herself being tortured was bound to be unpleasant, and he wondered if they’d made the right choice with the clips before shaking the doubt from his head. Matt said Sendak had been satisfied with their footage release, though he hadn't said anything but to tell Mr Holt to keep working though; no times, or dates, or anything to indicate when he would contact them again. 

At least it meant their current timer hadn’t been cut short early. Sam had been ensconced as demanded at the Voltedge Labs to continue working on the problems in his designs, which were proving to be as complicated as he had told Sendak. One of his assistants, a woman named Ven’tar, had been helping him with the designs lately, and she had tried to tell them just how complicated the design was proving to be.

Keith hadn’t understood a word, and even Regris, who usually picked up on such things well, had looked a bit intimidated by the explanations, but they got the jist of her words; the two-week deadline, which would be up six days from the release of the footage to the media (on the 22nd of August) had not been long enough for the ‘ _reasonable progress_ ’ Sendak would be expecting, and as that Sunday drew closer, Sam was feeling the pressure. 

Keith and Kolivan had both suggested another assistant, even someone from the police department, but he had refused, and Keith couldn't help but be glad he did, however much he needed the help. Telling one other person the details of the case to help build a weapon was already one too many really, but there was no way Sam could cope with it all by himself.

Matt and Romelle had talked with him and Colleen a little bit after returning to the station after the broadcast, but it had still been tense and strained. Keith sincerely hoped that they managed to talk some of the tension away before the next call, but was still happy to let them stay with him (Romelle had joined Matt after only a day with her two brothers had driven her blood pressure up).

The lack of confirmation certainly didn’t help matters, but Kolivan reasoned that Sendak had probably decided to skip it; ‘ _He told Mr Holt there would be no contact with Katie until the deadline was up, that’s tomorrow. He may have sent a couple of photos from them travelling, but that wasn't to tell us anything; it was purely intimidation. He isn't going to spare the time simply for the sake of our reassurance,_ ’ he’d said. 

Which really, Keith ought to have worked that out by himself, but the lack of contact had him on edge too.

Kolivan’s reassurance worked for the Holts, but Keith and Romelle both shared an uneasy look with the Superintendent when he’d spoken; his words were confident, but his expression had revealed he too was concerned. 

Sendak liked to gloat, to show his power and control of the situation by dangling Katie in front of their noses. He’d been consistent in that for weeks now, responding to every little thing he’d asked them to do, taunting them. 

Now nothing? Keith didn’t think the close deadline would have stopped him. He would have been more likely to phone up at midnight and tell them for the sake of convenience he was cutting time there and then. 

Despite what Keith had told himself, his own attempts at reassuring his own mind, midnight came and went on Sunday, passing over the station long after the family had left for uneasy rest elsewhere. To his further unease, Time faded into the early hours of the morning, then the afternoon.

Midnight came a second time.

Then a third. 

A fourth.

A full week, seven days after the deadline, there was still no call. 

The only benefit they had was that it had given Sam a little more time to work on his designs; knowing their original idea to stall for time was still going helped, but it would only work with a lead on where Katie might be, or Sendak himself.

So far, there had been no tips of information like there had been with Ryner, and all the locations that Regris had found so far had only been for small scale cells of cultists. Nothing major, and while it had helped other cases and been of use to other regional constabularies, there had been nothing that proved to be useful as a potential hideout.

As they waited, Keith returned to Sendak’s profile, looking over everything they knew about the man, his personal history, his family, his school and college education, known associates, where he had lived in the past, his habits, everything he had seen of the man in the videos when he had been speaking with them.

The more he could understand him, the more likely they would see something. Just because Regris hadn’t found a black and white sign or neon flashing lights spelling ‘ _GO HERE!_ ’ in the bowels of the computer didn’t mean the answer wasn’t somewhere in the information they already had.

Keith looked at how he treated Katie first, not just on the cameras but in the video calls; he was constantly touching her. Not grossly inappropriately, but still invading her personal space, usually in a way to make her uncomfortable or threatening, he wanted to keep her controlled, and keep her afraid of him, which she very clearly was despite her occasional attempts at bravado.

But it also seemed to be a reassuring factor; as long as he had a hold of her, she was close by, where he needed her to be for his demands to be upheld; his single biggest problem was keeping her hostage. 

He went to great lengths to keep her blind to her surroundings, and so securely restrained that it was probably going to give her early arthritis. He was being overly cautious and paranoid, because the length and commitment of this particular plot wasn’t comfortable for him. He also wasn’t used to independent elements, of which there were already several.

First, Katie herself. She’d already shown him she wasn’t willing to do as he wanted her to without force, but she was integral, so he had to try and make her docile, or comply when he wanted something from her.

Then there was Sam, who was again, essential; kidnapping him may have been an option, but he had already turned away Sendak’s design requests once, so Sendak had likely assumed he wouldn't make them under personal duress. 

As Keith had already told Sam when asking him to try and draw the design process out (the irony was now far from amusing), Sendak couldn’t make him work more than he was reasonably capable of if he wanted the design to be functional.

Then there was the police involvement; he would have expected it, and had obviously planned well given their current impediments in the case, but the police had already interfered once. 

Keith had forced him to agree to live updates, and he’d grudgingly continued to uphold that, by the same necessity that Katie had been taken for; he needed the blueprint designs, and couldn't risk his access to them being cut off. Whether he had believed Keith or not, he still wasn't comfortable taking that risk.

He was pinned down by his own plan, and was clearly uncomfortable, but now?

They had reached the point where they needed to start thinking about the possibility that they wouldn't find Katie Holt alive; every fibre in him felt sick at the thought, and Keith refused to believe it would happen until he saw it with his own eyes, but he had to be realistic. It was becoming a very real possibility. But back to Sendak.

The message they had found at the old arson site had told him to stay somewhere familiar. It sounded like advice. Not necessarily in planning, but reassurance. The kind a close confidant or superior might give, the way Kolivan was with Keith sometimes.

His first base had been in Marchanda, mere _miles_ away from Voltedge. Katie could have been taken to the Feyiv building in minutes, but Sendak went to the trouble of arranging a car switch hours away in the middle of the County Olkaria countryside, off-grid, to maintain anonymity. 

If it hadn’t been for Ryner, they would never have found that car, and could have been searching the entire country. They had even been thinking of bringing in Foreign Crimes, the FCD, to contact the Altean authorities for aid.

So, now that he had moved again, and presuming Sendak felt even more boxed in now that he had already been discovered once, where else was familiar to him?

Before Keith could ponder anything on the situation the rush of activity in the main control hub snapped his attention back to the current moment. People were rushing around, and he could hear Kolivan being summoned on the speaker system.

Getting to his feet to find out what had happened, relief, and worry, flooded him as he made his way to the computer desk where the cameras had been set up, and a green call icon flashed, its ring echoing through the speakers.

“Should I answer it?” Regris asked. “Mr Holt—

“—I’m here, I’m here!” the man rushed into the room, gasping for breath, datapad in hand, gasping for breath, gripping onto the edge of the table. “There was a message, I got here as quickly as I could! Please, answer him!” he pleaded between gasps, sinking into the chair Keith pulled up for him beside Regris.

After a moment to let the man collect himself a little, Regris answered the call button, then stepped aside.

The image that greeted them was not encouraging.

Katie could hardly hold herself up in the chair, shaking from the effort; she was holding herself in place, trying incredibly hard not to move and Keith realised with churning dismay that was because there was a rope wound around her neck, disappearing at the back, and her feet were pulled up under the chair between the horizontal rungs. 

The rope was tied to them. If she moved, she would strangle herself. There were fresh bruises on her, she was pale and obviously exhausted, and even the blindfold didn’t hide how hard she was concentrating on holding her legs up just so that she could _breathe_.

Katie Holt was indeed alive, but as he looked at the screen, Keith realised that in the two weeks since they had last seen her, something had gone very, _very_ wrong. 

Sendak’s face was far too calm; he stood beside the chair, arms crossed, with far more sedateness than he usually did. The angry kind of quiet that meant someone had been annoyed past the point the point off effect that could be given from bluster or rage.

‘ _You’re here, good,_ ’ he said curtly. Sendak’s tone was prompt and unflinchingly direct. It didn’t have the patience or reason in it that it had before. Something was wrong. Sendak was on edge, and it was clear from Katie’s condition that his mood was a recent one. ‘ _I’m glad you got my message in time._ ’

“Why does she look like that?” Sam asked, his voice shaky, very clearly worried and afraid. “What happened? What did you do to her?” he demanded, still shaky, but concern over weighing any exhaustion or worry for the plans, or fear of Sendak.

Sendak glanced back at the screen, and his lip curdled a little before he forced the calm, neutral expression he had been using back onto his face, reaching a hand out and lifting Katie’s head towards the camera. ‘ _Go on,_ ’ he said urged her. ‘ _It’s alright; you can tell him,_ ’ he urged again when the reightly terrified woman hesitated. The third time his encouragement was more acidic. ‘ _Tell your father what you did, Katie._ ’

The shaking stilled as soon as he touched her and lifted her chin in the direction of the screen; at the angle, they could see the noose had tightened a little with the movement, and there were tear tracks on her face. ‘ _I-I…_ ’ she inhaled quickly, too quickly to be doing as told by anything other than fear at a level she hadn’t shown before. ‘ _I managed t-to cut the ropes off,_ ’ she gasped. 

She’d tried to escape, just like he and Kolivan had been worried she would. That was why she was nearly black and blue, why Sendak had tied the rope around her neck. He was agitated. 

Since the last arrangement of her restraints hadn't worked, he’d decided that making the temptation itself life threatening was a good way to keep her docile; it was obviously working. 

Katie wasn't gagged like she usually was, but she hadn’t made a sound. She hadn’t even responded to her father’s voice. She could be scared to talk for the noose on her, or it could be that she hadn’t slept in days if they didn’t take it off of her at night.

Or it could be that Sendak had told her to be silent, and his increasingly violent treatment had been enough to scare her into full compliance. More likely it was all three, and the ticking clock that they had been working on without knowing how long the alarm was set for, had run out.

 _‘I t-tried to run,_ ’ she sniffed, breaking into sobs. ‘ _I’m sorry dad… I—_ ’

‘ _Shh—_ ’ Sendak’s fingers calmly pressed over her mouth and she stilled instantly. ‘— _hat’s enough from you for now._ ’ Katie nodded, the shake of her head meek and faint, and Sendak dropped his hand from her mouth. She was still crying, but she didn’t make any other sound. ‘ _The plans, Mr Holt._ ’ 

Sam nodded, still catching his breath as he transferred the files from his datapad to the computer, dropping into the folder that had appeared on the screen, routing them with a ping to the criminal on the other end of the call screen.

‘ _Thank you,_ ’ he said, relatively politely as he clicked around with the mouse of his own computer. ‘ _I apologise for the delay, but it’s given you an extra week, so I’m sure that made up for the problems on my end,_ ’ he said, pausing, and glancing at the woman restrained in the chair beside him. It wasn’t exactly deliberate, and the crease in his eyebrows as he looked towards her was clearly one of displeasure. ‘ _For Katie’s sake, I sincerely hope you haven't wasted it._ ’

Keith’s stomach dropped as Sendak turned his eyes back to the plans. If Katie’s escape attempt had been good enough to prompt Sendak to delay the call, then she could have been close to some kind of real freedom. 

Sendak was already short tempered, and agitated, less likely to be patient, or reasonable, and his expression as he looked over the limited progress Sam had made was not encouraging.

Finally, after a long moment, a sigh escaped his lips, and he crossed his arms irritably. ‘ _I’m disappointed Mr Holt,_ ’ he said. ‘ _I thought we were both communicating well on this issue, that you had an understanding of what would happen to your daughter if you lied to me._ ’

“Lie? No! No, I haven't lied to you! What are you talking about?” Sam protested quickly. Behind him Katie’s sobs stilled, and her breathing had picked up; though she couldn't see anything, her attention was on the screen. “I don’t understand what’s wrong!”

‘ _You told me two weeks would be enough to make more significant progress,_ ’ Sendak explained, moving and pushing Katie’s chair closer to the edge of the screen, side on. He bent down, unfastening the rope around her neck, and Bogh took hold of her shoulders and face. ‘ _I see very little that has changed with the designs._ ’

‘ _No please! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please! Don’t, don’t do this, please!_ ’ she begged as Bogh pulled down the blindfold. ‘ _Bogh please, please! I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Dad! Dad!_ ’ Sendak had picked up the frame of a blow torch from the computer table, and Keith was starting to feel sick. No. No, this wasn’t happening! How could they stop this? Could they? 

“Please, please! I swear it wasn’t a lie!” Sam called out.

“Sendak, he’s telling you the truth,” Keith tried, ignoring the woman’s screams and cries of protest as best he could––he felt sick listening to this––instead trying to catch the attention of the cultist. “Mr Holt has been working day and night on these. He even had an assistant help him when he was struggling. He’s trying to do what you’ve asked him! Don’t punish Katie for his failure at something he’s never had to do before!”

‘ _Perhaps you’re right Mr Hawkins, but you did hide something, collectively, didn’t you?_ ’ Sendak said, screwing a canister into the frame of a cooking blowtorch. ‘ _I told you if you lied to me, I would burn your daughter’s eyes out._ ’

‘ _I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please, stop,_ ’ Katie sobbed. ‘ _I’m sorry dad, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to tell him, I’m sorry,_ ’ she choked, yanking and writhing as Bogh held her, her gaze fixed and terrified on the flashes of flame coming from it as Sendak tested the gas flow. ‘ _Please! Stop!_ ’

‘ _Your daughter is very determined Mr Holt, I’m impressed she was able to come up with such an obscure way to send her brother a message,_ ’ he said, walking back around the chair. ‘ _But it doesn’t change the fact that he lied in his broadcast, that you lied about your progress, or Katie’s own poor behaviour lately. I think I need to remind you of the consequences of your actions as I warned you in our first meeting.’_

“Please, don’t do this!” her father begged. “Please, I just need more time to work out how to make the Trayling barrier synchronise properly! It’s not my specialty, I’m not as familiar with new microtech technology, I need more time, that’s all! Please! Please, don’t hurt her!”

‘ _Wait, please, it’s not his fault!_ ’ Katie was screaming and thrashing, her eyes screwed shut, sobs choking in her throat as he bent her head back, pulling on the plait that her hair had been braided into until her head was forced back, looking up at Sendak. ‘ _Wait! Please! Wai—_ ’ He smothered her mouth, holding her head back and silencing her again with a hard grip on her face.

‘ _If Katie hadn’t had the foresight to be honest when I asked her again if she had told you her location, I would be much less willing to keep negotiating with you on this matter Mr Holt,_ ’ Sendak snarled. _‘But if you can guarantee that you’ll be able to fix your design issues in the next two days, then I’ll wait. If not…’_ he clicked on the blow torch. ‘ _…_ _then my check-in in two days will be to find out if your daughter will be forfeit her tongue as well as her eyes._ ’

Sam broke down, tears streaming down his face. “I… I don’t… That’s _impossible!_ Please, a week, maybe, but _—_ ”

‘ _My offer is for two days and no more. Yes or no, Mr Holt._ ’

Katie screamed into Sendak’s fingers as the flame hovered over her head, and Sam continued to plead, sobs of dismay futile in his voice. “Please just give me a little longer!” he begged. “Please!”

Sendak sighed, a disappointed tone in the noise. ‘ _I’m afraid that’s just not acceptable,_ ’ he said.

He dipped the flame of the blow torch down, the flame flaring hissing over the video call audio as it lowered, second in volume only to the sound of Katie’s screams.

* * *

Friendly reminder that I really wasn't joking about the tags.

I’m just going to go hide before everyone starts yelling. 

~~ My mum yelled at me for this chapter, Fairia yelled at me, Luce yelled at me, so I’m pretty sure theres gonna be yelling of epic proportions. ~~

Hope you enjoyed the chapter?

_*Hides under rock*_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Keith notes his worries about the time scale they are working on, and the limited contact with Katie after the press conference when Matt was denied the chance to talk to her.
> 
> -Matt was invited to send her a message on the news programme, implying she was watching, but Keith is worried about he lack of communication and contact from Sendak. He is beginning to be worried they will have to start considering the possibility that they won't be able to find Katie alive.
> 
> -The time of Sendak's arranged call date passes & at first they thin it's just a scare tactic, but a week passes with no contact. Sam uses the time to try and meet Sendak's demands, but even with help from his assistant, he is still struggling with the neutraliser designs.
> 
> -The call finally arrives, and Sam just makes it from his labs after receiving a direct message from Sendak.
> 
> -The footage opens with Katie before the screen, tied to the chair and blindfolded. she is not gagged, but is clearly in distress, and is struggling to keep her self still. Keith realises her ankles have been tied on a length of rope beneath the rope around her neck, and she is trying not to strangle herself.
> 
> -The immediate impression that something had gone wrong is easy to see, and everyone is on edge as Sendak, who is even less hospitable than usual, prompts Katie to tell her father that she managed to cut the ropes off and tried to escape.
> 
> -She refuses to speak again when Sendak tells her to be quiet, and is clearly terrified, and doesn't try to make contact with her father.
> 
> -Sendak inspects Sam's work and to their dismay, states that he had been expecting better, and is unhappy.As they talk (Sendak pointing out that sam promised him results in two weeks, and due to the delays he's really had three) Bogh unties her legs from the rope on her neck, and moves Katie's chair closer. Katie tries to plead with them as he pulls the blindfold off and Sendak pick up a cook's blowtorch.
> 
> -Keith tries to back him up, only for Sendak to point out that they did lie to him collectively––' _I’m sorry dad, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to tell him, I’m sorry,_ ’--and that Katie passed a message to her brother as Bogh hold her head back, holding it in place--' _Perhaps you’re right Mr Hawkins, but you did hide something, collectively, didn’t you? I told you if you lied to me, I would burn your daughter’s eyes out._ '.
> 
> -Katie, screaming and trying to plead herself, is cut off as Bogh, yanking on the plait in her hair, forces her to look up at Sendak as he tests the blowtorch and flares it to life. Sendak clamps a hand on her mouth to talk to sam. He eventually offers him two more days to get the plans to the standards he wants. 
> 
> -Distraught, Sam pleads for another week.  
> Sendak disappointedly tells him that a week isn't acceptable, and lowers the blowtorch.


	14. Can Never Be Still

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **BEFORE YOU READ THE CHAPTER:** Please go back and re-read _Chapter 11_. during editing, I discovered that a scene of some moderate importance was missing. Again, _Chapter 11_.

By some miracle the crisis was averted. Katie intervened at the last moment with more bravery and desperation than Keith had ever seen in a person, bargaining with Sendak, and offering her own aid to her father.

Whatever she had said––the call had been muted from them as Sendak considered her words––had convinced him, and under supervision, Keith had watched as she and her father talked over the blueprint design errors.

The planning lasted perhaps half of the hour Sendak had, in his reaffirmed seniority and priggish smugness, continued to agree to.

Sam wasted no time, and neither did Katie, rambling through a mountain of words and terms Keith had no hope of understanding. He knew enough basic mechanics in hover vehicles to help out at his mother’s workshop when he went home, and to keep his bike in good shape, but had never been more interested in anything other than basic knowledge.

Katie Holt talked about microtech like it was something she adored, even shaky and struggling to get her words out at times. There was a sort of pride in it, the way she rattled off her instructions, talked with her father, and Sam clearly felt some relief, either from the assistance or the passion in her own expertise that hadn’t been chipped away by whatever other tortures Sendak had put her through.

Before Sendak and Katie had both revealed she had told him about her message to her brother, and that she had tried to escape––Keith was torn between feeling devastated for the woman to have her attempt crushed, and desperately wishing she hadn’t tried at all––he had wondered if it would be possible to send another, but with Sendak sitting just behind her, and Bogh hovering around closer to the screen when she needed him to do the computer work for her, he didn’t dare do more than try to help Mr Holt keep encouraging her.

She was exhausted. Probably injured again. Sam tried asking her a few questions of his own––much to Sendak’s amusement if the smile on his smug face was anything to go by.

Katie hesitated until he flicked the lighter on and off, and instantly her moment of consideration passed, replaced by sheer panic, and an absolute refusal to say anything else until he turned the conversation back to the blueprints.

It made him sick; Sendak had conditioned her to the noise, like a rat in a cage, and the results of it were showing now. Her mental capacity for the stress and inevitable trauma she was experiencing had started to reach its limit.

By the time Colleen and Matt had made it to the station, they were just about done, with time to spare. As the family talked, in the limited time Sendak was allowing them, Kolivan nodded to one side, and Keith followed him out of line of the camera.

“What did they say?” he asked the superintendent. 

Kolivan had made it up to the operations room in time to see Katie bargaining with Sendak while they were muted. One of the people from the media lab had been on the comms keeping him updated through their ability to lip read, but Regris had only had the time to patch them into one comms, and Keith hadn't been blessed with the recording of exchange yet.

Kolivan sighed. “Sendak might have a point,” he grunted. “If Bogh hadn’t backed her up that could have ended badly. He might have just been trying to scare her into telling the truth, but it took longer for him to make that decision than I like. You’re right. We’re running out of time.”

“Katie said she tried to escape; I don't think we can ask her anything, not with Sendak right there. She's too scared to tell us anything,” Keith frowned. “But if he’s delayed the call this long, it might have been closer to success than we can tell. He’s nervous about something; why else would he even contemplate letting Katie help Sam?”

From Sendak’s point of view, there was absolutely no value in letting Katie help her father; he was just giving her information, access, not to mention something to distract her from her situation, an unintentional break from the terror that he was trying to keep her docile and under his control with. 

If she had tried to escape, then by the pattern of any other normal kidnapping, it would be better to remove her from the picture as much as he could except to prove she was still alive. In fact, Keith had the suspicion that he had been planning to do just that.

The blindfold during the conversation, the rope on her neck. Katie had a ring of bruising on the skin beneath it which implied it had been there for some time, and the way she had been wincing at the light, even late in the evening like this, suggested she wasn’t used to it. He’d blindfolded her for calls before, but she recovered from the blackout effect quicker. She hadn’t used her eyes for a long time. 

“You thought Sendak was working on a timeline of his own before,” Kolivan said as they watched Matt talking to his sister about Romelle’s ultrasound scan, and hiding from the screen so he didn’t find out the gender. “I think you're right. And I think it's getting closer to its finishing line. If we could work out what they're targeting next we would have a better idea of how much longer we have.”

Keith grunted, leaning against the wall, watching the family now crowded around the computer screen again. Kolivan made it sound like they could just pull nefarious terrorist bombing plots out of the ground like juniberries. 

If only he could; they wouldn't be in this mess now if that were the case, and Katie would be home with her family, safe. Maybe even have avoided this entire experience, but he supposed they had the NCD to thank for that lapse of information sharing.

Maybe it was worth contacting Brodar and find out what, if anything, the so-far useless agent knew about potential attacks that were in planning. It was a potential line of information, of which they were still sorely lacking.

“Possible deadlines aside,” he paused, casting the thoughts of the NCD agent aside before he made himself angry again. “You know what it means if Sendak is letting Katie help with this.”

It was far, far too much information for a hostage to have. Keith and Kolivan both had suspected that Katie had a countdown for how long Sendak would keep her alive to begin with, but now? She’d caused him too many problems, and now that he was including her in his planning. It was all but certain that he was counting her numbered days now.

Kolivan pursed his lips. “I’ll talk with Mr and Mrs Holt,” he said quietly. “They need to be aware of this. You check in with some of the other main area constabularies, see if there's been any unusual activity, check the hotline again. We know she tried to escape. If Sendak’s paranoid about her security, it’s because he perceives a risk to it.”

Keith nodded again. “Zethrid was talking about looking back over all of Sendak’s old stomping grounds outside of Marchanda, places where we know he’s been active. He’s spooked from Katie’s escape attempt so he’ll stay here he can control things now, stick to what he knows.”

It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, but it was a start. Sendak was struggling in his own way as much as they were, and while he was efficient, he was still human. He would have slipped up somewhere.

Looking back at the computer screen, the timer had dipped down and he could see some tearful goodbyes were being held. Bogh was already fiddling around, tying the blindfold around her eyes—‘ _You know how this works Princess, time’s up_ ’—though he waited for Colleen and Matt to leave—‘ _I don’t want you to watch,_ ’ Katie mumbled—before gagging her again and carrying her off.

Compared to the last two calls, it was better, less traumatic to watch simply because Katie wasn’t putting up the same screaming protests as before. That might have been Sendak (in general it was probably just her situation and attempts to persevere through it as long as she could) but he felt it was more of her own volition. She was trying to avoid attracting attention. Or maybe just trying to avoid any more discomfort. It was hard to tell.

Either way, it was hard not to admire her fortitude; Keith had received a little training for ending up in hostage situations in the academy, but he’d never had to use it, and being trained wasn’t the same thing as being thrown into a situation you had no reason to expect, no preparation for, and no training, that put you in physical and mental danger.

Whatever her instincts were telling her, while they had made Sendak take steps that hindered the investigation (which didn’t help them) it _had_ helped her. It kept her mind working, kept her alert, aware, and it had helped keep her alive this long. Keith hoped she didn’t stop listening to them just yet.

Sendak returned to the phone call once she was gone, giving his instructions for the next time he would contact them.

‘ _I hope Katie’s assistance clears out any more hold ups on your end, Mr Holt,_ ’ he checked, tone even but still irritated. Keith hoped he’d hold it in check after the call ended, since Katie’s intervention had helped him in the long-run. ‘ _I’m sure you’re as tired of the delays as I am. I’ll arrange a check in with your daughter next week, and you’ll have some updates on her condition between time once again, but I expect something better than what you’ve shown me so far in exchange. Do we understand one another this time?_ ’

“There won’t be any more delays,” Sam told him, more confidently, if still reluctant and shaky. “I can complete these now. I’ll have to find someone familiar with microtech to help with the modelling, but it’ll be done,” he assured him.

Sendak curled his lip, but said nothing and the phone call ended, and it felt like the whole station breathed a sigh of relief, not just Mr Holt. They hadn’t really made progress, but however it had happened, Katie still had her eyes and Sendak had been temporarily extinguished from his anger. With their limited resources and ability to intervene, it was by all accounts a success.

Of course, if they wanted to keep it that way, then they now had to let Mr Holt seriously think about making a weapon designed for mass death and destruction, which was less than ideal, but they had another chance to rescue Katie without life altering injury.

“Mr Holt, I know you probably want to go back to the labs, but if can borrow you for a moment,” Kolivan said quietly, putting a hand on Mr Holt’s shoulder “I’d like to speak to you and your wife in private.”

Sam nodded, and Keith watched for a moment as he left the room, his wife following them as they reached the doorway, and headed upstairs sot Kolivan’s office.

Masking a face, Keith headed back to his own temporary one, putting aside all the notes on Sendak and searching through the contacts list. As he searched for Brodar’s number, he called through on his comms to Zethrid, to let her know about the developments so she could adjust her searching.

He knew he could just ask Antok to contact his superior, but he didn’t want to interrupt him when he was working on the footage from the call, presumably trying to get an idea of where it had been sent from.

Eventually he found the number, but it took some wrangling to actually get through to Brodar. He had to confirm his identity three times, give his police id number six, list his address, list his dog’s id, and at one point it was even requested that he disclosed his words (not really a request considering that it was the NCD but it was a pain in the neck, considering they probably already knew them).

Finally, after two hours of checks, call waiting, more checks, waiting lines, and more infuriating checks, he was patched through.

‘ _Michael Brodar speaking._ ’

It occurred to Keith that the last time he had spoken to Kolivan’s superior, he had shouted at the man for telling him about the agent he was about to request the assistance of. He probably ought to apologise. He had been kind of rude.

“Brodar, this is DCI Hawkins from Marchanda Constabulary,” he said (which was probably unnecessary, Brodar would have had to approve the call).

‘ _How can I help you? I presume this is regarding the case with the Holt family? Have you had contact with Sendak again?_ ’

Keith wanted to strangle the man. If he already knew why did he even bother asking? 

“I wanted to know if you can contact your agent; Katie Holt made an escape attempt recently, and we’re looking for leads on that, but I was hoping you could help us narrow the search.”

‘ _I can certainly try; if you have something specific I can pass it along to Commissioner Mozak and see what he can find out. I’m sorry I can’t offer more but…_ ’

“Its clearance, that's fine,” Keith said, running his eyebrows with one hand. “I understand. I need any information about potential future targets, however minuscule, and whatever data you have on their recent activity. I’d like to cross check what my team is working on against that and see if there’s anything we’ve missed if you can get it to us.”

‘ _I’ll see what I can do; I’ll contact you as soon as I have some news for you to work with._ ’

“Thank you,” Keith paused. “Have a good day.” he added, before hanging up. 

He wasn’t quite prepared to apologise for his past opinion—because he knew it wasn’t unjustified the way Kolivan seemed to think—but he would grudgingly admit he hadn’t expressed it well. He could be polite at least.

Once the call was over, he got to his feet, leaving the desk behind, and going back to the planning room where most of the case work was being conducted on digital planning boards, on the papers covering a large table top in the centre of the room, and across the video screens analysing every moment of footage they had found from the computers at the older base, and from the raided hideout.

Zethrid already had a map of Marchanda, one of County Olkaria, and a country-wide one of Terra set up, and had markers for every level of attack from Sendak, known sightings of him, places related to where Katie Holt had been either seen in person, on camera, or her last known general location.

“You look like you want to pull someone’s teeth out,” Zethrid noted, looking up from the new markers she was tapping into one of the screens. “Regris and Antok didn’t get anything on the VPN?”

“Not that, but can’t tell you yet, sorry,” Keith sighed. “Though I don't think they had any luck this time either. Have you found anything that matches up anywhere?” he asked leaning against the table and eyeing the boards hopefully.

“I’m plotting out a few things; Attacks are green for major, blue for minor, red are sightings of Sendak, black is for case related events, and white is for anything we can firmly pin Katie’s location or involvement in,” she said, pointing at the digital screens. “I sent the lists to your datapad. After that I’m going to help Tabor go through the hotline again. Feel like some overtime?”

“What’s a bit more,” he joked, opening up his datapad to see the lists. The first two were as long as the last three combined, and neither combination was short, at least two pages of notes. Zethrid might hate office work but she really was as efficient in finding what she wanted as she was in barrelling criminals flat onto the concrete. “I need to send an email first, but if you take blue and green, I’ll take black white and red?” he offered. 

Zethrid gave him a grin, and as she started on her pile, Keith ducked his head into his datapad, tapping out a quick, to the point, and clear email that they could send out across the whole constabulary network, along with a warning to Kolivan.

No doubt someone would see it and—despite knowing better—leak it to the press; they needed to be prepared for any questions that came up from the media.

It might be a menial job, updating all the maps and tracking things, sending out another mass email across the network, but it would help, especially when they had a fresh chance of a lead. 

Bogh had missed Ryner, and both he and Sendak had underestimated their own hostage. Sendak wasn’t infallible, and now that he knew it, he’d doubt himself. Leave more things to chance assume instead of ascertaining. 

They just needed one chance, one chance to close in and make up for the gap in information that had appeared since Sendak had switched bases, one chance to make up for the failed raid. A sighting on a street camera, an abandoned car, a concentrated rise in Purificationist activity. It didn’t have to be much. A comment or something they could get from Katie herself would have been nice but Sendak had been watching her the whole time.

Mid email, he stopped. 

Comment. Katie _had_ made a comment, hadn’t she? By accident? Sendak had stopped her before she mentioned anything of her escape attempt, but she had said something.

Mind clicking a little faster, Keith tapped into his comms, picking one of the direct lines he’d had programmed into his earpiece. “Regris, can you drop me a copy of the call footage from earlier?” he asked.

‘ _Sure thing, one moment._ ’

A second later there was a ping as the file was transferred to the datapad before him. After some quick thanks, Keith turned his eyes to the file, opening up the video, playing it a bit, skipping past the threats of torture towards the end, when Sendak had relented, pushed her chair back towards the screen.

Finally, he found the part he was looking for.

‘ _...I didn’t… I shouldn’t have done it; the fire… I think Bogh killed hi—_ ’

‘ _What was that? Don’t you remember what we talked about earlier Katie?_ ’

‘ _I didn’t mean it, it was an accident! I won’t say anything, I really won’t, I swear on my words I won’t—_ ’ He paused it as Sendak grabbed her by the chin, clicking his damn lighter on and off, bristling at his manhandling and the torture he was still inflicting on the woman.

Keith entertained an indulgent fantasy that just maybe Sendak would do them all a favour, and set himself on fire with it in the near future, but cast quickly it aside. 

If Sendak died first, finding Katie would be infinitely harder.

“Zethrid, come look at this and tell me if I’m hearing things?” he asked.

Zethrid paused her marker placement on the boards, and stooped, peering over his shoulder at the video as he replayed it.

“You can hear that, right?” he asked.

“The fire… I think Bogh killed him.” Zethrid repeated. “Fire? What Fire? Where? Killed who…. Could... could she have been outside? When she escaped?”

“Good, I’m not just sleepy,” Keith mumbled to himself. “You hear that too.”

If Sendak had killed someone it was because they were a loose end, a way to locate him. Katie hadn’t just escaped to run around the building, she really had made it out into the open. That was why he’d jumped on her so quickly to stop her talking about it.

She had been outside, in public, and whatever effort it had taken to recapture her hadn’t gone unnoticed, and had ended with the Purificationist signature method of murder. More importantly, she had found _help_.

“I’ll adjust my search for any fires or related deaths in the city during the past week and start there,” Zethrid said, heading out of the room, her face calculated and concentrated. “And I’ll go tell Tabor and Regris—if there was a _555_ call then it’ll be recorded somewhere!”

Looking back to his email, Keith felt a little bit of hope burn in the back of his head as he returned to his typing. It wasn’t as exciting as Zethrid’s rushing around but they had a whole country to search and now, they had an idea of what to start looking for.

Someone who might have died and a fire. It wasn’t much, but they’d had cases with less before. They could make it work. They could turn it backwards and on its head until it turned up a lead to Sendak. Keith knew they could do it; they would find him.

For Katie’s sake, they had to.

* * *

By the time Keith and Zethrid had reached their limit in planning and researching for the night, it was morning. 

Kosmo had given him a very disgruntled whine when Keith hefted him from his pet bed (transported from Keith’s actual office, which had been temporarily given to the head of the drugs force) and carried his enormous blue marshmallow of a dog down to the hoverbike.

Kosmo had been very put out to be woken for a bike ride, and had sulked off to bed again as soon as Keith let himself inside their flat. Romelle watched from the kitchen bar that looked onto the living area for a moment as the dog laid down with his back to the door, then raised an eyebrow at Keith.

“You're late; what happened?” she asked.

“We think we may have a link to a clue which might be a lead, but I’m not sure,” he groaned looking at the mug in her hand—since she and Matt had moved in temporarily, he’d caught her trying to smuggle coffee behind Matt’s back. Seeing the pure caffeine in the mug, he yoinked it immediately from her hands.

“What kind of clue?” Romelle asked, pouting as he inhaled her coffee.

“Katie escaped.” Romelle’s eyes widened. “We think she might have found help, because she mentioned Bogh killing someone, and a fire. Before Sendak realised what she was saying at least. Then he interrupted her and she clammed up. Don’t tell Matt or your in-laws though. We aren’t sure yet.”

Romelle grimaced, but nodded. “That’s not very specific,” she frowned, following as he ambled through to the Kitchen. “So, you were looking up recent fires? And recent deaths related?”

Keith nodded. “With Zeth. She’s following up on the city search; Tabor and Regris are trawling the hotline and _555_ logs. Made another email for the network for information request so we can get a country-wide search in effect, and I had to call Brodar too.”

“And since Illun has been making angry faces and stomping off to the morgue to yell at our poor Jane and John Ds whenever Brodar gets mentioned lately, I’m guessing you can’t tell me what that call was about?”

“You guess correctly,” Keith nodded, dropping the mug in the sink. “You have another scan today with Matt, don’t you? What time is it?” he asked curiously, looking around in the cupboards for something that he could consume without having to heat up before he tried to remember where his bed was.

“Eleven,” Romelle said, hefting herself up onto one of the barstools beside the breakfast island. “So, is it the same thing you were talking with Matt about? After the raid?” she asked. “There’s leftover Altean takeout by the way. We left some for you last night.”

Keith nodded, making a beeline from the fridge and opening it. “He told you about that?” he asked, grabbing hold of the plastic box the leftovers had been emptied into.

“Of course he did; he likes you. He thought it was nice of you to let him rant about family drama and let him live with you for a few days when you had so much stress of your own going on. He’s hung up about how to say thank you. He was going to buy you a new TV the other day—” Keith froze, with many, many questions about how on earth _that_ was a good idea. “—but I talked him out of it. I told him that was a bit much for people with normal standard living wages and that setting it up would just give you more hassle than it was worth, and he backed off.” Keith felt himself breathe again. “I swear you're like peas that got switched from the pod.”

Keith pulled open a drawer and dug around for a set of chop sticks, relief more than anything else his main emotion as he selected a set, scrunching them apart in his left hand and starting to dig in to the cold satay chicken and spinach noodles.

“Thank fate you did, because you're right; setting up all the news streams and entertainment subscriptions on a new one would have been a nightmare I really don’t have the patience for right now,” he chuckled. “If he wants to, that badly, Duos in KBP will do it. I haven’t had anyone to play the duo campaign with for _months_. Hunk and James and everyone back home is kinda swamped with a bunch of stuff right now—”

“And you’re busy overworking yourself? You’re not normally this bad Keith. You haven’t been home for days. I’m surprised Kosmo still knows where his bed is.

“—and we just haven’t had time to set up a game night.”

“I’ll pass that on,” Romelle smiled, watching him. “Keith?”

Keith looked up around the mouthful of noodles. “Hnnf?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were left handed?” she asked, sounding a little hurt.

Keith paused, then he looked at the chopsticks in his hand, and swallowed the mouthful of food awkwardly. 

_Crap_. He should have used a fork. He automatically used his left because he just couldn’t handle chopsticks in his non-dominant hand. Had Matt told her, or was she just guessing? Did it really matter? He could almost see what Romelle was thinking and he needed to clarify it, fast. 

“I’m sorry,” he said quickly, putting down the food and sitting next to her at the breakfast bar.

Biting his lip for a moment, he figured it was about time. Romelle had been his best friend for years, almost like a sister. She knew he had problems dealing with his words already from too many drunk rambles after academy classes and the limited explanations that had followed. 

She had never asked. That was the height of rudeness, a complete privacy invasion. He could tell she wanted to sometimes. Everyone was curious about what other people’s words were if they didn’t already know them. Keith would kill to know what some of his school friends had been handed down by fate, but like Romelle, he’d never dare ask.

Slowly, he pulled up his sleeve and started to unbuckle and pull off the left hand of the pair driving gloves he used to keep his words covered. Then he held his arm out towards her, wrist turned down, but loose ebnough for her to turn over if she wanted to.

“I… it’s not that I… I don’t…” Keith frowned struggling to get the words out. “I just don’t like telling people ‘Melle,” he said finally. “I just try to forget they’re there most of the time, so they don’t bother me so much.”

Romelle stared at him for a moment. “Keith, it’s okay, if you don’t want to show me you know I won’t—”

“It’s okay,” he insisted. “I should have shown them to you ages ago.”

Romelle looked at him, still wary, before slowly reaching out her hands and turning to peek at his wrist, not touching the words, but angling his hand just enough to make them out. He watched as she mouthed the words to herself, then looked away.

**‘ _Please don’t hurt me!_ ’**

“I really just forgot,” he rambled a little nervously as Romelle let her gentle grip on his fingers go, taking his glove from his right hand and sliding it back on before pulling his sleeve back down. “I don’t think about them. I don’t want to. Not if it means whoever’s got the bad luck of having me as their soulmate has to suffer first.”

“Keith, you know that you’re not what… you’re not a bad person because of them,” Romelle said, surprise and shock on her face, her fingers wrapping into his. “You’re not that at all. You _know_ that, don’t you?”

Keith nodded. “I guess. Sometimes I wonder, but yeah, I do,” he smiled. “I just don’t like to think about it. I never have. People made a big deal of it, and by the time my words arrived I was sick of it already, and just learned to write with my right hand.”

Romelle made a face. “I want to say that’s not a story I’ve heard before but I don’t think you’re the only one. Bandor tried to do it too, before mum caught him and made him stop. I still think he just switched back at home though”.

“I was the same; Mum always told me not to try to prove something for someone I’ve never met, but using my right was just easier than dealing with people giving me all these pitying looks when I was a kid, and after a while she gave up. I don’t _not_ use my left hand. Sometimes I can’t use my right. I can’t use a Luxite in knife mode with my right hand, or chopsticks,” he chuckled. “Now I’m just used to it.”

Romelle hummed, some thinking on her face as she poked at what had once been a fruit bowl, but was now filled with a bunch of junk and takeaway advertisements and old voting campaign leaflets he still hadn’t thrown away. 

“I like your mum; she’s a smart lady,” Romelle snorted. “I bet she'd give you that disappointed parent face if she knew you pulled another overnighter again.”

Keith shrugged, looking at the takeaway leftovers again. His mother would also likely bemoan her inability to teach him basic sustenance preparation if she could see him eating cold satay chicken takeout, but cold satay chicken takeout was severely underrated.

“Keith?” He looked back at his friend. “You haven’t heard anything like that from people in cases before, have you?” she asked curiously.

“Every once in a while, someone says something that I look twice at, but it’s not come up yet. I think it’s just a case of waiting for the right person. Or maybe the wrong one. I’m still kind of hoping it’s a dumb joke at a party or something,” he chuckled. 

He sat with her in companionable, reassuring silence, then leaned over on his stool and dropped the plastic box into the sink to wash up later. “If it happens, it happens, but I kind of hope it doesn’t. Chances of it being a joke aren’t that high really, so it’s better that way.” 

After getting to his feet he leaned over and gave Romelle a one-armed hug and a platonic peck on the side of her head picking up his food again. “Good luck at your scan. I’ll see you at the station, probably.”

“Probably,” Romelle rolled her eyes.

He turned around as he made his way across the living room.

“No coffee.”

Romelle stuck her tongue out, and Keith laughed, heading into the hallway in search of hot water and a soft mattress to crash on before he headed back to the station and started the cycle all over again.

* * *

And we're back with Keith again. I didn't think a TL:DR was needed this time, but if anyone does notice anything, let me know and again, I'll fix that.

If you didn't catch the note at the top of the chapter, then please go back to chapter 11 and give that a reread; i have fixed an absolutely mortifying, glaring error which was the accidental omission of an _entire scene._

If you're new to the not-a-party that is this hellscape of a Kidge AU, lucky you, you got the whole chapter first time :D 

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	15. From The Weak Hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Warning: **nothing too crazy this chapter but during Rolo's section there is a very brief mention and allusion to amputation. I didn't think this warranted a full-on TLDR, but for anyone who needs a small warning, just an FYI :)****

Keith woke up to the usual mass of notifications and emails on his phone that followed his days with every new case he ended up on.

He’d turned off all but the biggest ones since the Voltedge case had arrived and taken over nearly all of his focus and time, but in Sendak’s silence he had been able to catch up with some of the others which had been sadly become less of a priority, and in the past few weeks caught up and turned his alerts for those cases back on.

When he woke up, and he rolled over to pick his phone up from the nightstand, he wondered if he ought to have turned them all off again after sending the email out on the constabulary network. He had expected a huge influx of emails and data dumps, but the number of notifications on his phone alone was kind of staggering.

He knew public support for the case was high, but he hadn’t expected it to have a knock-on effect in the police network like this. He’d sent plenty of information request emails before, and none of them had received this much of a response. He supposed he had the case publicity to thank for that.

Opening up his emails, there were drops of files on arrests and witness reports from nearly all the major cities—the sub stations of Marchanda, compiled lists from Kraydah, Dalterion, Nalquod, Balto, Senfama, Reiphod, Puig, Javeeno, Rebulon… It looked like every single city in Terra had responded to the information request.

Kolivan had obviously sent a similar message out to the Altean and Drule police because there was even an email from them that he had copied him into, with information from foreign cities which had been experiencing spikes in cult activity, like Oriande and Daibazaal.

There were _hundreds_ of responses. It was a little hard to believe, but a whine for food at his door from Kosmo told him he really wasn’t dreaming. As did, unfortunately, the messages from Matt and Mr Holt.

Mr Holt had copied him into a draft of questions to send on in hopes of establishing contact with Katie or Sendak again. Some of them were ones he didn't need to ask, some were genuine; they just needed to bulk out the list in the hopes it would be easier for Sendak to arrange another call. Keith wasn't feeling optimistic about it, but it was worth a try now that there was a ‘ _reason_ ’ for the greater contact with the cultists.

When Matt and Romelle had taken a more permanent presence at the flat, he and Matt had swapped contact info more familiarly, and Matt had sent the latest and most recent in the returned daily updates on Katie straight to him.

Keith opened it up; there was one of a man who looked like Macidus checking one of her injuries, and one of Bogh feeding her. She was blindfolded in both of the pictures this time. There was a message that had been passed on from Bogh too.

‘ _Doc says she’s healing up alright; no infections. Might not even scar if your dad is quick enough to get her a skin graft and a cryopod._ ’

Keith could only imagine how well that message had gone down, but the photos confirmed that Katie was being kept under much tighter control than before. Being blindfolded took away potentially more agency from her than being tied up did.

She had been able to work around that and plan an escape without the blindfold, had taken chances early when she could find them. Without her eyes—thankfully figuratively—Sendak had taken that away from her. She had a greater disadvantage with such a major sense being withdrawn from her.

He held no illusions that the greater control over what she could see would bring her any mercy though. It was far too late for that now. They were still on a time limit, and so Keith pulled himself out of bed, keen to get into the station and start going through all the files that had been sent in.

Grabbing his earpiece, he popped it in after a shower and finding some clothes; he’d lost track of all his work pants weeks ago now, and only kept a clean suit in his locker for the random press conferences that were now regular. He stuck to his jeans and a training t-shirt. 

He necked a drink of coffee as Kosmo munched on his morning can of meat and dog biscuit, and some more of the leftover noodles, before they left the building and headed into the station.

There was a bit more activity than there had been the previous day with the glut of new information. Zethrid had gathered up a small group to help go through all the new information with her and Tabor, and they were seated around the table in one of the side rooms going through printouts and call logs.

Keith joined them, opening his laptop. “Which ones need starting?” he asked.

“Nobody’s started on the ones from Talwarshire yet sir,” one of the women glued to her computer screen said—she looked like one of the students doing their experience year from the training academy. 

Clearly Zethrid had outsourced some extra manpower while Regris and Antok were busy following the digital trails and chains. 

Keith nodded. The main stations from Talwarshire were Senfama, Rebulon, and Deeva, and there was a significantly large list with each of the files from the individual city and regional constabularies that the heads of the overall force in those areas had highlighted as worth the interest.

Keith dove into it, trawling through the file after file. It took nine hours just to get through all reports from the Senfama constabulary, from the namesake city itself and the surrounding towns and smaller settlements.

“There has to be a better way to do this,” Tabor groaned when he finally had enough of staring at a screen and endless paper piles after another five hours.

“Nope,” Regris said, popping the ‘ _p_ ’; He had left their tiny workroom to acquire take-away curry, coffee and caffeine shots to keep them all going till the next small morning, a bag of which he plopped down beside Keith’s laptop.

“If only, but if someone teaches drones how to evaluate empirical data and situational evidence, we’ll be out of a job,” Zethrid grumbled, dragging her own food from its bag. “And possibly be witnesses to the end of humanity, though right now I’d welcome it. Nothing from the hotline?”

“Oh, _plenty_ ,” Tabor sighed. “If you count people who think they’ve got a conspiracy next door and are absolutely certain that their neighbour is Jake Yurak and he’s hiding Katie Holt in his cellar because they heard ‘ _strange thumping noises_ ’ during the night.”

Keith made a face. So far, that was the general sum of the whole day. He hated investigations like this, where they could spend the whole day reading, chasing a paper trail, and still find nothing. Even with buzz words in the searches it still generated more information than any single person could cope with.

He’d had some luck in response from Brodar, but the data that he'd sent them hadn’t been too much different than what their own was. It had added some possible locations and new hideouts that they hadn’t otherwise been aware of to Zethrid’s map, but nothing that spoke of any great progress. 

> Digging into his food, turned back to the log of 555 calls that had been sent in Senfama Constabulary’s data dump. One from one of its suburb towns. 
> 
> **SENFAMA DISTRICT EMERGENCY HANDLING OFFICE**
> 
> **Call Log Number:** _99834-567_
> 
> **Operator:** _Baujal Cummings_
> 
> **Call Coordinates:** _123.876N–214.995W_
> 
> **Time:** _05:19am_
> 
> **Date:** _Sunday 22_ _nd_ _August 2230_
> 
> [PLAY RECORDING]
> 
> **[ | | | >...........::::::....:::......::::::::::::::::::::::::::::..:::..:::::..........:::::::::::::::::::–––– | | ]**
> 
> **TRANSCRIPT**
> 
> **O:** ‘ _555 , which service do you require?_ ’
> 
> **C:** ‘ _I-I don’t know! But I think Katie Holt just showed up at my dad’s chip shop!_ ’
> 
> **O:** ‘ _...D-Do you have a location for me sir?_ ’
> 
> **C:** ‘ _Rhedus’s Crab Shack, Port Thayserix Shipping estate._ ’
> 
> **O:** ‘ _Okay; know you’re scared sir, but I really need you to speak as calmly and clearly as you can for me; is anybody hurt? Is  
>  anybody in danger?_’
> 
> **C:** ‘ _H-Her feet are bleeding bad, and she’s really beat up and hurt… I think… She thinks someone’s following her! I think… I. think  
>  they’re outside!_’
> 
> **O:** ‘ _Alright, I’m going to request the police and an ambulance dispatch to the location pinging from your phone, okay?_ ’
> 
> **C:** ‘ _Yes! Thank you, ye— Hey! Hey wait! I’m trying to—_ ’
> 
> **O:** ‘ _Sir? Are you still there?_ ’
> 
> **END OF TRANSCRIPT**

Keith blinked, then played the full recording of the call. The operator went through a few more questions until the call cut off abruptly, the caller shouting something to someone and some more noise.

“Antok? Regris? Can I send either of you something to run voice tests and up the volume on?” he asked, tapping on his earpiece, before flicking the file off to Regris’s drive when he got a confirmation from both tech wizards.

Looking at the location and the place the caller had identified again, Keith turned to the digital maps set against the walls, searching for Senfama on the county map before diving towards it and zooming in on the city itself.

There wasn’t much in the way of activity in Senfama. Nothing had been added from Brodar’s information at any rate. There had been a cult sympathiser who attacked a bond registry office several years back according to the event pins Zethrid and he had added the night before, a few protests against stricter soulbond registration laws, campaigns for better allowances in some laws where in the modern age, limiting options to soulmates was just ridiculous.

There wasn’t much in the way of actual Purificationist activity though. Port Thayserix itself wasn’t a major city, but a suburb town of the greater metropolis, which was where the screen dragged a marker after Keith had entered the search

It was a large trading dock and shipping estate that handled a lot of international trade. The location in the call, the chip shop, was close to the map boundary of the estate with the Senfama area, about three miles from the seawall and harbours. Most of the area was taken up by shipping storage and transport equipment.

‘ _Keith do you have a location for this?_ ’ Antok asked, his voice sharp over the earpiece. 

“Port Thayserix, I’ll drop the coordinates to you now, why? Is there something there?”

‘ _Oh, there's something alright,_ ’ Antok mumbled. ‘ _I’m going to play the full recording, Zeth, Tabor?_ ’

“We’re listening,” Zethrid confirmed.

There was silence and a little typing before the full recording played, volume a little scratchy, but otherwise coherent and much more revealing than the initial call had been with the additional background noise. For starters, a woman’s voice could be heard, but it wasn’t that which made them all start.

‘ _Finally._ ’

Keith sucked in a breath at the sound of Sendak’s voice as it echoes in the background, before being followed by some scuffling and then the sound of another familiar _—_ desperate and terrified _—_ voice.

‘ _Let me go!_ ’ Katie screamed. ‘ _No, let go! Get off of me! No! hel—_ ’

‘ _Tie him up, then torch the place!_ ’

“Fate be damned, she really got out,” Tabor mumbled. “She nearly made it.”

“Voice?” Zethrid asked, going to the map. “Any CCTV in the area you can get into from here? Any we can use to follow them, even just retrace their steps?”

‘ _Voice match is eighty-seven percent. I’m checking for CCTV now, bringing up the street cameras on your screens,_ ’ Antok said. ‘ _Give me a moment._ ’

After a few more seconds, the maps were replaced by the video feeds of several cameras in succession, showing the same image from different angles; Katie Holt being dragged kicking and screaming from the old, worn chip shop and into the back of a small red hovervan by Sendak and Macidus.

A few seconds later, when smoke had started to pile out from the door, Bogh ran around to the back of the van, a cloth over his face, and the van drove away, leaving the smoking building behind them.

“Rewind this, I want to know when she got to the shop,” Keith said, bringing up a search index on his laptop and starting to filter the police reports and emergency call logs by date and time. “Any footage of the front we can get, the other businesses across the road, next door, tracking numbers on that hovervan. Everything we can find.”

‘ _I’ve started tracking the van,_ ’ Antok said. ‘ _I'm plotting its route by the cameras, but I don’t think it’s going towards the sea wall; I need more time to follow the cameras on the grid before I can say for sure. I’ll call the owner and find out if they had footage from inside that might be rescuable._ ’

“No, focus on the van, we can do the leg work. Sendak won’t go back to a base she’s already escaped from. They’re all on the move again,” Keith said. “Do not lose that van. It’s our closest bet to their current location, and we _cannot_ lose them again”

‘ _Keith?_ ’ Regris called out, on a private channel after a few short pings. ‘ _I just did a search of the call itself on the database, and there was another call from the same number made a few minutes later requesting the fire brigade,_ ’ Regris said. ‘ _I’m just bringing it up now…_ ’

What? The fire brigade? He frowned, but waited for Regris to bring up the call.

‘ _555, which service do you require?_ ’ another call operator asked.

‘ _Fire brigade. There’s about to be a fire at a chip shop in Port Thayserix shipping estate._ ’

That was... Bogh’s voice? He could hear muffled shouts in the background. The man from the first call who’d been cut off?

‘ _Pardon?_ the operator asked.

‘ _I’ve emptied a bottle of komar fluid onto the floor. The Zaiforge will catch on in the oven in about five minutes; you might want to tell them to get here before that, else someone might get hurt_.’

The call transmission ended. How the hell had this not been flagged days ago? Any of it? Something still wasn’t right with this, Keith was sure of it, but he’d worry about that later.

Bogh had not been told to call the fire brigade, and even if Sendak hadn’t been giving him orders, the behaviour was still odd; was he laying a trail for them to follow because he was the agent? Or was it a trap of some kind? A false lead? Did he have his own agenda?

“Did the emergency services arrive?” he asked. “Can you speed up the footage? Is this guy alive?”

‘ _Ambulance fire and police all arrived about fifteen minutes after the call, ten after the van leaves, looking at it,_ ’ Regris said; on Keith's screen, the images jumped ahead on the loop of film.

It showed the firemen going in, police cordoning off the area and a full search underway. Eventually one of the firemen emerged from the building with an unconscious young man over his shoulder, who was quickly handed off to the medical team originally called for Katie Holt.

Keith couldn’t believe what he was seeing. How did something like this just escape their notice? Hadn’t someone called Kolivan? The office? The hotline? Done _something?_

The uneasy feeling in his gut wasn’t leaving and he glanced at his team for a moment. No. No, it wasn’t his team. Kolivan had scoured everyone in the department top to toe, twice over, but something definitely wasn’t right. 

The date in this video was exactly a day before Sendak had been due to contact Sam. Based on the content and how old it was, Senfama would have called, emailed, contacted them about this straight away. It should have been in his email folder over a week ago.

Someone was watching their information loop, and interfering with it. 

“Regris _—_ ”

‘ _—_ _I know. You focus on following all this up. I’ll let you know what I find._ ’

Keith took a breath. “Alright, I’m going to phone Senfama and see what we’ve missed, find out if this guy is still alive,” he said still looking at the boards. How much of their information was trustworthy? 

As far as he could tell, what they had here was indisputable, like this footage; starting a call he flicked the screen back to the camera footage of Katie being dragged out of the shop, struggling against sendak’s grip on her. That wasn’t exactly something that could be faked, but they should have had this under analysis days ago.

“For now, we keep this to this room,” He added quickly. “I’ll tell Kolivan, but I don't want anyone talking about this to anyone else within or out of the force beyond the investigation itself, are we all clear?” he asked. “That includes you too, Regris, Antok,” he added. “Last time we had a lead like this, someone either leaked the response team’s arrival or Sendak saw us coming. This time we’ll be more careful. I don’t want anyone else to know about this. Not even Mr and Mrs Holt. Understand? Not until we have something we can carve out of the concrete to show for it.”

They only had this because it wasn't supposed to happen, and even Sendak couldn't control street cameras without hacks and more prior warning. It would have been found eventually, but how long would it have taken if Keith hadn't decided to check the emergency call logs too? Hadn't asked for them in his email?

Someone had tried to stop this from being found, and the only way to do that was from inside the force itself.

He didn't want to think about it. He was trying hard not to. But if someone really was withholding information, or trying to sabotage their progress, then as the rest of the investigation proceeded, then they needed to be careful. 

“Do you all understand?”

There was silence, before over his earpiece came the joint calls of unanimous agreement.

* * *

Fate had given them an edge. The investigation was potentially compromised, and Regris had been nose deep in his computer for days, locked up in his office to keep his sensitive work into finding their leak contained, but they still had an edge.

That edge’s name was Rolo Rhedus.

Port Thayserix was a bustling city firmly ensconced in the sprawl of the Senfama metropolis, with good hospitals, but after the potential danger incumbent in his survival of the attack, Mr Rhedus had been transferred to Marchanda University Hospital where the police could discreetly put him under witness protection. 

So far, Keith didn’t think Sendak knew he was alive. 

No-one had returned to the devastated chip shop where the fire following Katie’s failed escape attempt had taken place, and Keith was sure that now it was under police control as a crime scene, no-one would.

Having Rolo transferred also meant that when he woke up, and was lucid, he was close by. 

Keith had been planning to go in and see if he was able to talk in an interview after a few days, but he received a call from the hospital first. The doctor informed him that Rolo had asked to speak to someone from the investigation team almost as soon as waking up, but the request had been put on hold until his condition stabilised.

Thus, two days after their discovery of the escape attempt, Keith found himself in the halls of Marchanda University Hospital, looking for the Burns Unit, only to end up being redirected to Orthopaedics when he got himself lost in the nefarious maze of hallways.

Eventually one of the auxiliaries gave him the directions he needed, and he found the ward where Rolo was being treated. Rather than one of the public shared rooms, he’d been given a private one which was easily identifiable by the man standing guard at the door.

Keith gave him his ID, and he stepped aside, allowing him to knock and enter the room. It was bare and devoid of much interest as most hospital rooms were wont to be, but the man in the bed was awake. He was hooked up to several different IVs, and a similar looking man was sitting beside the bed, looking tired, but relieved.

“Mr Rhedus?” he asked after stepping inside. The man in the bed followed his father’s gaze to the door, sitting up a little, recognition on his face. “DCI Keith Hawkins; your doctorgave the station a call and told me you wanted to speak to a member of the Voltedge investigation team?. Would now be a good time to talk?”

“Please,” the man nodded. “I want to make sure I tell someone everything before it starts getting anymore blurry. Painkillers,” he explained, pointing to the drips.

“One of the cookers that exploded in the fire landed on his leg,” his father said quietly. “The fire teams had to…”

Keith did his very best not to let the shock show on his face, or look down at the bed, where he now noticed one of Rolo’s legs was shorter than the other. They’d had to cut him out. He hadn’t seen that on the video.

“I’ll try to make this as quick as I can, then I’ll leave you to rest up,” he said to Rolo, but also to try and reassure his father. 

The guy couldn’t have been more than twenty-four. Not much older than Katie herself, or much younger than him. His hair was bleached completely white, and while he had a little of a medical haze in his movements as he shifted on the bed, he seemed focused.

“I’ll just start from the beginning? He asked. 

Keith nodded and the man took a breath. As he gathered whatever composure he needed, Keith took out a plain old notepad to write down the notes the old-fashioned way. He didn’t want any of this digital. Not when he wasn’t sure who would be able to see it.

“I was cleaning down the counter after all the cook staff had finished for the night. I usually stick around to work on my college assignments after I’m done, so it was early morning when this woman all but crashes in through the door,” he began, leaning back in his pillows. “At first, I was confused—who wouldn’t be right?—but then I recognised her, from the photos on the news?”

Keith nodded, looking up from his notes momentarily. “I can imagine,” he said, hoping he sounded like Kolivan when he was trying to be reassuring with people after things like arson bombs and murder attempts. “Did Katie speak to you at all? What sort of condition was she in?”

Rolo nodded. “She was really struggling, but she asked for help. Sort of, I got the impression she had been running for a while because she was out of breath, and was having trouble standing,” he said. “Other than that, she was kind of a mess. Bruises everywhere, and she didn’t have shoes so her feet were bleeding all over the place, her voice sounded like someone had made her eat razor blades….” he paused. “...in a word, awful I guess. I tried to help her calm down, because she was shaking and practically hyperventilating trying to catch her breath, but she freaked out when I got too close?”

He looked worried. “I’m sure it wasn’t anything you did Mr Rhedus,” Keith assured him, feeling a bit more confident with that. “Did you manage to reassure her at all?” he prompted gently.

“A bit. I introduced myself, told her that I wasn’t going to hurt her _—_ ” he paused, looking a bit distant for a moment. “ _—_ she really was a mess dude.” Keith nearly twitched. _Dude?_ “Like, I’ve seen the news, but what the fuck else did those psychopaths do to her? She was terrified! But it helped when I showed her the _555_ on the phone.”

“She might have thought you were working with Purificationists,” Keith said carefully. “From her perspective, she had no way of knowing if she was in an area under Sendak’s control; approaching you was probably a desperate risk in her mind.”

Rolo stared at him for a moment. “Actually, that makes total sense,” he mused. “Anyway, I called the emergency services and they said they were going to send the police and an ambulance and then I realised she was trying to tell me she was being followed…”

Katie had known she was being followed? Had she seen the van? How long had she been dodging it? Antok had told him they had probably been following her over the street CCTV—they could have hacked in even if they couldn’t erase the footage of the recapture or her escape—so it was possible she could have heard the van in the streets. 

The fact that Katie had managed to avoid it so long was incredible, but if that was the case, if she had been chased down after being captured and tortured, no wonder she’d taken the open chip shop as a last-ditch oasis of hope. 

Now she had volunteered to help her father. Either her way of showing desperation was just more rational than a normal civilian, or she had a mind made of steel not to have completely collapsed under all the strain yet.

It was incredible really. Keith often felt sympathy for the victims in the cases he worked on, and despite his trouble expressing it during interviews like this, he did empathise. Rarely was he impressed or even prompted to feel admiration for them, but Katie Holt? She was quickly becoming the exception to the rule.

“...there was this van that pulled up. Red thing. Boxy moving end to it? The kind our deliveries come in,” Rolo continued, his tone a bit more despondent. “And I saw someone moving around, so I hid behind the counted and tried to get her to follow but she froze up. Probably what you said, about thinking I’d phoned them; she bolted right for the door and ran straight into that creep,” he closed his eyes, shuddering. “Saw his picture on the news too. It was definitely him. That Jake guy, I mean. He had the same weird hair.”

Keith nodded, still making his notes. “That all matches up with the evidence from the security footage, but we didn’t get anything from the kitchen. Can you tell me what happened there?”

Rolo looked a bit paler but nodded, his face determined. “There was a big guy who grabbed hold of me behind the counter; that Sendak guy told him to tie me up and set the place on fire, then he dragged her out of the door with some other guy, and the first one did what he’d told him,” he began.

Keith nodded again, making sure Rolo knew he was still following. While the corroboration of what they had seen on the footage was nice, what he was more interested in was Bogh’s phone call to the emergency services. That was definitely not something that Sendak would have ordered him to do, nor be happy to discover. 

“I tried fighting him off, and I work out enough, you know? But I couldn’t budge him. It was like he was made of freaking stone,” Rolo continued. “I don’t remember how, because he hit me on the head and I started seeing stars, but he tied my hands to one of the rails on the fryer…”

Keith frowned for a moment on that as he wrote. Maybe Bogh had been carrying rope or tape or cable ties or something for when they caught up with Katie. He had entered the shop from the back, so Sendak’s group had obviously been split to cover a wider area in their search for her, and their first priority would be restraining her again.

“...he had this military-style water canteen on a shoulder strap? He emptied it out on the floor and over the cookers, then he phoned the fire brigade,” Rolo said finally. “Then… then he went to the door, and got a matchbox out of his pocket and chucked it onto the floor. After that I can’t really remember. There was a lot of smoke, and I think I passed out. I remember when something exploded because my leg hurt, but I don’t remember the firemen cutting me out or getting here,” he finished, tone turning apologetic.

“Don’t worry about it,” Keith assured him. “What you’ve told me is good. It ties into what we know and it helps with some other—” Keith paused as his phone buzzed in his pocket. “—leads were working on.” He ignored it for a moment––it was just the message alert. “Do you remember if Bogh did anything to the ovens at all after he’d tied you up? Did you see him putting anything inside them?”

Rolo looked a bit confused by the question but he gave the question some thought for a moment before he shook his head. “If he did I don’t remember,” he said. “He socked me in the face and like I said, I was so fate damned dizzy I could hardly see straight.” He wilted. “Sorry mate.”

“It’s alright,” Keith told him again. “You’ve had a time of it, and like I said, what you’ve already told me is more than helpful. It’s incredibly brave to come forward so quickly, especially with your own health to consider,” he added. He really hoped he sounded like Kolivan. 

Or Thace. Thace was good at this sort of thing; Keith would probably have punched James when he was in school if it hadn’t been for Thace helping him smooth over their stupid teenage drama. Blunter than his dad had been, but still in the same sort of vein of patience.

“If you do remember anything else, I’d like you to call me personally; not the investigation department or the case hotline,” he said, handing a business card from his wallet to Rolo. “It’s extremely important not just for the case but your own safety; did the officers who met you of the flight explain the witness protection protocol that has been put in place?”

He asked the second question to Rolo’s father, who nodded. “They said if this… Jake Yurak finds out that he survived, he might be targeted again?” He asked, a little nervous.

Keith nodded. “For now, it’s only precautionary,” he said, hoping he sounded reassuring. “But yes; there’s also a lot of media attention on the case and at risk of sounding like I’m trying to cover something up, it is also a lot easier on everyone without giving reporters more fuel. For that, and again your own safety, please don’t speak to any media. Right now, they’re unaware of Katie’s escape attempt, and we don’t know how any public knowledge of it might make Sendak react.”

“No, no I understand,” the man said as Keith’s phone buzzed in his pocket again. Several times. The same repetitive vibration that told him there had been an onslaught of mass messages or a failed call. “Thank you for coming down to see us so quickly.”

Keith almost wanted to point out that ought to be obvious with such a difficult and huge profile, visible case, but that was just being cynical, and taking his frustrations out on an old man just trying to be polite would just be plain mean, never mind rude.

There were a few more thank yous and making excuses, his phone continuing to buzz incessantly as he tried to get out of the room. 

Once he finally managed to extrapolate himself from formal farewells and obligatory well-wishes, he hurried down the corridor, following the exit signs as he dug his phone from his pocket to check the storm of notifications that had besieged it.

Calls from Kolivan and Romelle, and multiple messages from Antok, Regris, even Zethrid. He tapped into Kolivan’s message, which had an image attachment. Clicking into it, he frowned at first, trying to work out what he was looking at first.

It was something sitting beside an evidence bag, down on one of the tables in forensics. Beside it was a padded envelope, no postmarks but an address on the front for the north side of Marchanda.

It was something part-melted, a sandy brown colour that…. With disgust, he realised what it was when he saw the limp remains of a plait woven into the end of the singed, hacked locks.

It was Katie’s hair. It was the plait that had been burned off her head by Sendak during his call a few days ago. Stopping in the hallway as he stared at the image. 

Keith took a breath, then whacked the wall angrily with one fist in an effort to keep himself from screaming with frustration at the obvious goading taunt. A few auxiliaries and passing patients, doctors and nurses gave him some alarmed looks, but he ignored them, looking at the rest of the messages.

‘ _This was hand delivered to Mrs Holt’s parents. Mrs Nolan heard the letterbox opening, and when she opened the door she got this picture of the postman heading away from the house._ ’

Keith flicked down to the next picture, pulling that into full screen too, hitting his earpiece back on and clicking one of the call shortcut buttons to start a direct call to the superintendent.

The photo wasn’t the best, a little blurry in places, and obviously taken with shaky hands, and the zoom wasn’t good either, but the frame and general outline of the man walking along the street looked familiar. Very familiar. Like Katie’s turncoat bodyguard.

He looked for any more information, a note about any messages that had been included, but there was nothing. 

‘ _Keith, you’re out of the hospital?_ ’ Kolivan asked picking up the call.

“I’m making my way out now,” Keith said. “I’ve just checked my phone. We’re there any messages in the parcel, aside from Sendak’s posturing?” he asked.

‘ _Nothing, just a data chip with a voice recording on it,_ ’ Kolivan sighed. ‘ _It had Katie’s responses to Sam’s questions. We’ve given him a copy and Antok is working on the audio analysis to see if there’s any background noise we can work off. He got some more data from Brodar today so Zethrid is adding that to the map. Did you get anything from Mr Rhedus?_ '

From Brodar? That was hopefully something Keith mused. “I’m not sure. Maybe. I need to talk to forensics and the fire crews in Port Thayserix who were on scene. I’m going to stop into the station and then head out that way.”

‘ _You’re going yourself? Keith—_ ’

“ _—_ Kolivan, our information network is being sabotaged. I don’t want to trust what I can’t see with my own two eyes,” he said bluntly, finally sighting the exit at the end of the main ground floor hallway. 

Regris still hadn’t found anything to suggest who had been tampering and delaying the information gathering within the investigation, but he had found a few more instances of camera footage that had survived the initial bombing at Voltedge which had been redirected instead of being sent to the investigation team.

“I’ll look and see if there’s anything in the database we were sent from Senfama constabulary that matches what I got from Rolo, but I don’t want anyone to know why I’m going. Not even Brodar, or whoever’s in chrage of the drugs squad, the cleaners, _nobody,_ ” Keith said stubbornly, heading through the exit. “Not until we know how far this leak goes. I have to call Regris, but I’ll be back at the station before I leave.” 

Kolivan was silent, before he gave a reluctant sigh. ‘ _Fine, I’ve been meaning to talk to you anyway,_ ’ he said, his tone a little curt. ‘ _We need to discuss something. Come up and see me before you leave. I’ll be in my office._ ’

With that ominous declaration, the call ended and Keith headed for his bike, sending another call through to Regris after he’s replaced the earpiece with his helmet. His friend answered within moments of Keith switching his bike to life and leaving the hospital carpark.

‘ _I’m guessing you talked to Kolivan since he’s slamming doors and muttering to himself?_ Regis asked, sardonic.

“I need to go to Port Thayserix to check something with the fire teams; I don’t want to put something into the database until we know where its being sabotaged,” Keith said, pausing at a junction. Regris gave a grunt of agreement. “I know you’re working on that, but I need you to check something on the fire report from the chip shop. Can you pull it up for me now?”

There was some dull clicking as Regris tapped away at his computer. ‘ _Okay I have it, what are you looking for?_ ’ he asked over the speaker as Keith made his turn onto the city grid, letting the magnetic controls in the city help pull the hover bike along the route as he concentrated.

“Residue. Mentions of the explosion,” he said. “Can you read out the part of the report where they talked about that?” 

Regris did a bit more tapping and clicking. ‘ _The fire reps put it down to the ignited oil from the fryers and some komar that had been poured onto the floor and over the ovens._ ’

Keith frowned. He’d been sure there had been some mention of zaiforge in the report. Or maybe he just hadn’t been looking for it because he’d assumed it would be there after hearing Bogh’s call to the emergency services first. It was the Purificationist weapon of choice, their calling card.

Then again, the more he thought about it, the less sense that made too; Katie had escaped. That was not something Sendak would have wanted known until it suited him, such as during the call, when he could gloat about the fact that despite Katie’s attempts to run, she was still his prisoner, that she had failed, that he still had control despite her own ingenuity.

Why would they use a zaiforge detonator when it was so synonymous with the cult to start the fire if they were trying to keep her escape from becoming known? Why not just use something easier to get ahold of like komar fluid?

There was a very simple answer; they wouldn’t use it at all. 

There were more arsonists than just the Purificationists, and without propaganda claiming attacks, or zaiforge bombs as identifications, there was nothing really stand out about a chip shop fire. The best way to hide their involvement if they couldn’t hack or delete the footage was to just not make any identifying claims on it.

Rolo had said he hadn’t seen anything in being put in the ovens as Bogh had claimed during his emergency call (which brought many other questions to mind by itself), and the firemen would have mentioned zaiforge in the report if it had been used too.

So why mention it when Bogh knew it would be like drawing moths to a flame, unless it was deliberate? 

He wanted them to know they had been there, but why? Was this part of Sendak’s flair for the dramatic? Or was this something of Bogh’s own doing?

‘ _Keith?_ ’

“Sorry, Keith blinked, jerking himself out of his daze. “I was thinking. That’s all I wanted to know. I still need to check with the fire crews, but I’m heading back now. Any chance you were able to follow Bogh from Katie’s grandparents’ home?”

‘ _No, he must have had a car, because there’s no security cameras on the road, and we didn’t see him leave on foot on any of the CCTV nearby,_ ’ Regris sighed. ‘ _But I’m hoping a neighbour might have a security system—Tabor is looking into it for me. Then we can maybe find out which route he took._ ’

Keith sighed, turning his eyes back to the road. “Alright, I’ll see you when I get back to the station.” 

With that he ended the call and turned back to the road. Being able to track Bogh would have been too much to hope for, but what he had heard from Rolo and Regris on the arson report had given him a lot of things to try and think about.

Something was very off about this though. He didn’t want to put his finger on it yet _—_ he wanted to check what was going on with the fire crews, and check back at the station since today’s unpleasant package had been delivered to Katie’s grandparents first _—_ but something about it put him on edge again.

Which way it was going to tip remained yet to be seen.

* * *

Another update from Keith :) Not a lot of movement but things are picking up a little in the investigation, much to Keith's relief. These things go much more smoothly when there are actual leads to follow. Friendly reminder again that if you haven't re-read chapter 11, it has been updated with a missing scene that hadn't been included in the first version.

The archived chapter system on this website is... janky at best, and commits outright sabotage when it _really_ wants to make my day. 

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	16. Liars and Thieves

Kosmo was waiting in his bed again when Keith returned from his trip out to the hospital, and whined in complaint until Keith had poured some food into his bowl and fussed over him with scratches before he could focus on going through what the rest of the team had been working on.

Tabor was still out looking for any possible CCTV from Mr and Mrs Nolan’s neighbours, but so far hadn’t had any success. He was waiting for one last neighbour to get home from work before speaking to them. 

Ilun has sent up a forensics report on the swathe of hair (confirming that it was indeed Katie’s), and Regris was still holed up in his makeshift office muttering away as he worked in the challenge of weeding out the leak in their information point.

That left him with Zethrid and Antok, and their map work; Antok was taking a computer break and had been drafted into the woman’s analysis when Keith finally escaped from his dog.

“Anything of interest?” he asked, knocking on the door to warn them he was there. Zethrid kept her gaze fastidious upon the board, clearly lost in thought, but Antok nodded over his mug of tea in greeting.

“We’re still tracking the van,” he said. “It left Port Thayserix and headed south-east inland this time, but we lost it at a changeover between the regional grid network before Rebulon. Unregistered again too; they probably switched cars again but I sent word out to the regional constabularies so there’s a search underway. We did trace the van back to its origin point within the shipping estate though, and I’m going to start tracking Katie’s path after my break.”

Keith perked up at that. If they had found the base where Katie had last been moved to then that was good. They were keeping up, at least, and there might even be cameras. Footage information.

“Was it still in one piece?” he asked.

Antok nodded. “I believe our friend deactivated the bombs before he left again,” he informed him. “Did you find out anything from Mr Rhedus?”

“Maybe, I’m not sure what I found out to be honest,” Keith deflated a little. “But it’s something,” he sighed. 

He wondered if he ought to ask Antok anything about the NCD agent within the cult. He’d admitted before that he knew who it was when Brodar first popped up, and Keith knew he was under higher orders not to reveal their identity even to the police force.

“Antok?”

“Hm?”

“I know you can’t tell me who it is, but… say I were to ask you some out of context questions about our… friend,” he started, watching as Antok eyed him over the rim of his mug, mid-sip. “Or tell you something that in terms of what we know so far, makes absolutely no sense and could benefit from his perspective; could you contact him without anyone else knowing about it?” he asked curiously.

Antok continued to sip at his tea, his eyes going back to Zethrid’s board for a moment as she worked; she was muttering away, rearranging some of her markers, before switching them back, looking up reference files, and changing them around again; Keith knew better than to disturb her. She was following something, and hated people hovering around her. She’d ask for help or tell them what when she needed to.

“It’s… difficult to say, but I could try,” Antok said finally. “Ulaz and Mozak would kill me when they find out though, so it depends on what you want to know or ask.”

“Where Sendak is hiding Katie Holt would be a good start but after what Brodar told us I doubt that’ll fly,” Keith snorted. Antok grunted with equal irritation, and Keith took a breath, going over to the other side of the room, beckoning him to follow.

Telling Antok could be a gamble, but they wouldn’t make any progress just controlling their information flow. They still needed to investigate as normal, else it would just arouse suspicion in whoever had their thoughts in line with the Purificationist manifesto.

Keith didn’t think it was Antok, but this was a good way to find out if he was really trustworthy, and he really was floundering over the reveal from Rolo. He _needed_ another perspective.

“Bogh said in the emergency call that he’d put zaiforge in the ovens,” he said. “But there was no mention of any residue in the fire report, and it would have caused a much larger blast if it had been there; Rolo was injured due to the fire being spread by the chip fat oils and an explosion from the fryer. He was fully conscious, and didn’t see Bogh put anything into the ovens before the fire started.”

Antok listened, then he began to frown. “That… is unusual behaviour from a cultist.”

“So is the fact that he called in the first place—saying he used zaiforge is practically screaming cultist responsibility and Bogh would know that; he’s more level headed than Sendak is. It’s a little concerning actually, given he’s the one who has the most interaction with Katie,” he frowned. “There’s no reason for him to call and blazon something like that on the message unless…”

“He wants to be found,” Antok surmised. “You think he’s…?”

“I don’t know _what_ I think Antok,” Keith sighed. “I want to be sure, so I’m going to interview the fire team that arrived at the fire; if we’ve found the second base then that’s worth a look too so I’m leaving for Port Thayserix tonight.”

Antok was still quiet, and he opened his mouth to speak, only to be cut off by a sharp call from Zethrid.

“Keith? Antok? Come look at this for me?”

Zethrid was frowning at the board, looking a little unsettled, and she caught his eye as the wandered back over. “What is it?” he asked.

“Look at this board and just... tell me if you think it’s right,” she said. “Specifically, the markers regarding Purificationist attacks.” she added as Keith did as requested, looking over all the points of interest that had been marked across the maps.

He started first with the local one of Marchanda, since that was the zone he was most familiar with, and the general centre of Purificationist activity.

Looking them over nothing seemed out of order, but Zethrid’s request indicated that something was bothering her about it, so he looked individually at each one, checking each of the points that had been marked as an area of Purificationist activity against the files in his datapad, looking up each incident and arrest, each area where the cult had claimed the attack responsibility.

Then he frowned some more. “These aren’t…” he looked down at the information about an attack that had occurred in Marchanda two years ago on his datapad, then back at the screen. The event he had looked at was one that his team had been directly involved in, and been close to stopping. But according to the report, it had no zaiforge involved in the attack, and that there had been no claim on it from any of the cult branches active at the time

“All of the data on this is wrong,” he blinked. “I remember that case; we were on scene while the firemen were working––there was a second detonation and a couple of them were killed while they were inside the building.”

“I don’t think our information loop has been working properly for a while Keith,” she said in a shaky voice. She pointed to another one of her markers, a school that had been associated with bond purism and links to a Fate Faith centre. “This is another one––we were an _hour_ out on the attack time. There was an evacuation in preparation when the bombs went off. That was three years ago…”

Keith stared at the board dismay churning in his gut. “Delete it all,” he said. “Start again, use your personal notes, and get Regris to help. Look at all the information that’s incorrect and find out where it came—” he cut himself off, just as Zethrid reached out towards one of the screen controls to do as instructed. “—Wait, no,” he changed his mind. “Leave it up, make it seem like we’re using the information…” he said instead.

Zethrid, paused, then nodded in understanding. If whoever made the leak knew they had been found out—and that they had discovered how old the falsified information that had been the basis of their investigations to date really was—then they would stop. That was the opposite of what they needed to find out who it was.

“I’ll talk to Regris, keep it between us, I think everyone who was in the room when you found the 555 call knows what’s going on, so if anyone else finds out…”

“We know where to look,” Antok nodded. “It's unpleasant, but we have to be realistic.” 

“I’m heading out to Port Thayserix to get some straight information and look at the base,” Keith told Zethrid. “If you all send a list of what information you want me to look out for I’ll do my best to get what I can off the scene.”

She nodded, then after an uneasy glance at the boards, headed off towards Regris’s makeshift office, presumably to share their discovery. When she had left, Antok turned back to him.

He looked at Keith. “I’ll try to contact the agent,” he said. “I can’t make any promises, but knowing this I think we need any internal information we can get. Do you want me to stay here or do you want a partner for the trip?”

Keith paused. “How long will you need to finish what you were going to work on?” he asked. 

“If you aren’t taking your hoverbike then I can do it during trip, I just need an hour to import the footage and get a laptop that can handle working on the grid network,” he said. “If you’re taking the bike, then a few hours.”

Keith thought about it for a moment. “I need to talk to Kolivan about all this, so that’ll take a while, so will a few hours be okay? You have a change of clothes with you and all?”

Antok nodded, and Keith made his way out of the room with the plan settled to head up the stairs. Kolivan was in his office, as he’d said he would be, and as he saw him coming, making his way past the desks that had been swapped with the drugs squad, he got up to pull the blinds on his window of the work floor across.

Keith’s stomach churned again, and grimacing, he entered the room, closing the door behind him and continuing the uneasy privacy that only happened when Kolivan wanted to discuss more sensitive (or worse, personal) subjects.

“What is it?” he asked, wanting to get the matter out of the way before he gave Kolivan his update and made his day worse with the news.

Kolivan sighed. “You aren’t going to like it.”

“I gathered.”

“Kolivan pinched his nose for a moment. “I’m worried about you working patterns Keith; you never go home, you hardly eat, you’re living off coffee and energy shots. I told you before we even knew this was going to be a kidnapping case not to get too personally attached.”

“How am I personally attached?” Keith frowned defensively. “Nothing’s affecting my judgement. I know we aren’t doing very well, but that’s starting to be par for the fate damned course with the cult, and in new context makes sense.

“New context?”

Keith winced. “Zethrid found out our information leak is at least three years old when she was looking over the board.”

Keith watched, wondering if Kolivan was going to turn purple as he seethed, but he didn’t, keeping his cool like a good superior was supposed to, running his hands through his hair before turning back to him.

“That’s incredibly unsettling, but don’t distract me. You wanted to hear this first, so I’m telling you; after this case is over I want you to take some time off.”

What?

“You’re… Am I suspended?” Keith started. “Is this because of what happened with Brodar?'' he asked.

“No, though it’s part of the reason I am _strongly_ recommending you follow my advice,” Kolivan said. “Your judgment is not being questioned, but I am worried about the way you’re dealing with the workload and how attached you are. You’ve never reacted like this to cultist cases in the past—”

“Because this isn’t like other cases!” Keith protested. “We’ve never had a publicised kidnapping to deal with before! How are we supposed to find Katie if we don’t put extra effort in when our track record of finding the cultists is already so low?”

“—I know, I understand that Keith,” Kolivan assured him. “I know, but we can’t find this woman if we string ourselves too thin.” he gave him a pointed look. “I’m not the only one concerned. Romelle told me what time you showed up at home the other day.”

Keith twitched. Of _course_ she had. He loved his friend to bits, but _really?_ She’d gone to _Kolivan?_

“I’m not suspending you. You’re one of my best DCIs, and you haven’t broken any rules, though that stunt with Brodar was pushing it, even for you,” he said, his tone warning. “I am just highly recommending that whatever happens, after this case, you take a break. You have all your holidays piling up, and you only took a week of them last year.” Keith flinched again at the pointed tone. “You get a month and a half of holidays, for all fate’s blessings, take some. Go on an off-grid trip, go visit your mother and Thace, go abroad, sit in your flat and hug your dog and play KBP, I don’t care what you do, but please, at least give it some thought.”

Keith tried not to feel offended by the suggestion. That wasn’t Kolivan’s intention and he knew it. He was just concerned, and his Superintendent had done a lot to help him manage his temper and get to the position he was in now. He’d never have made it to DCI without Kolivan, and Keith knew there wasn’t really anything wrong with the advice.

Most people didn’t have to be advised to take their _holidays_ ; Romelle did have a point about him being a work-a-holic.

“I’ll think about it,” he promised. “Will that do for now?”

“I’ll take it,” Kolivan nodded, shoulders slumping a little. “ _Three years?_ ” he asked, dismayed angry and horrified at the same time.

Keith nodded. “At least. I’m willing to bet it’s more.”

Kolivan let out a string of profanities that formed a perfect summary to the whole situation that could be condensed in his last and final expletive, mimicking Keith’s thoughts exactly.

“Crap.”

* * *

The trip to Port Thayserix was long and cold. September was giving way to autumn as quickly as the road that slipped beneath the hover-couplings of Keith’s bike on the long, ten-hour trip to the port city.

He and Antok paused only to stop at a gridway service station for a short rest and bite to eat from the burger outlet; the food had the predictable cheap, but filling amount of grease and more salt than necessary to make the food appetising, but it was a chance to stop and think, and check in with Senfama constabulary, and warn them they would be coming down to look at the scene in further detail.

Keith also checked in with the rest of his team, who were all just as awake as they were thanks to Zethrid’s new and incredibly concerning discovery.

Zethrid had already sent him a private, manually made copy of the new maps, slowly being filled with new markers from their own collective memories. Tabor has confirmed that he had been able to speak to the last of Mr and Mrs Nolan’s neighbours, and had some footage of Bogh that he was taking back with him directly from the neighbour’s camera storage for Regris and his media analysis team to investigate.

There was also some preliminary information from Port Thayserix constabulary, who had closed off the area, and who were already starting the forensics inspection of the site, so things were looking up. Slightly.

As Antok worked away on his laptop, Keith flicked through the updates in information, sipping at a coffee and a bottle of water in equal measure, trying not to feel impatient about the necessary break.

He couldn’t help but hate the timeline they were working on; initially trying to delay the development of the weapons teach Sendak wanted had been a good choice, and it had allowed them to at least guarantee the live calls, and in that sense, guarantee that Sendak couldn’t kill Katie between them, but that was no longer the case.

Now, with Katie offering her own expertise, there was less room to manoeuvre the situation more favourably. Sam couldn’t delay with his honest claims that he was struggling with the tech. Katie might have saved herself from losing her eyes by volunteering to help him, but now they were on a timer they no longer had any element of control over.

Sendak probably had a target in mind—something else they needed to figure out—but the more he thought about it the more Keith knew that wouldn’t be their deadline at all; they had until Sam could finish developing a working prototype. 

That was really all Sendak needed. Not a full scale working piece of tech. From there, he could find a cultist who would be able to copy the design. Or, if he only had one target, he just needed one copy of a prototype.

After that it was supposed to be a case of swapping the prototype for Katie, and there was no way that would happen. Knowing that didn’t really help though; it just made him feel more impatient to move as Antok worked quietly across the table.

He’d finished analysing the audio recording from the data chip that had been found in the package containing Katie’s hair, and there hadn’t been anything of major significance in the recording. 

A few people coughing, one of them identifiable as Bogh, and Sendak asking the questions, but nothing else. It sounded doctored, presumably to remove any interaction between Katie and her captors that they didn’t want known.

Keith guessed arguments judging from the way her tone rose and clipped before dropping again and the way the noise jumped around between some questions, her despondency in others, a few where she sounded like she was in pain, maybe crying. Again, it didn’t really help them, and once Antok had finished his own food and drinks, they headed back to the bike, taking off for the last five-hour stint of the journey.

Keith locked the bike into the grid for the most of it, letting it carry them along, allowing his mind to wander a little, his mind travelling back and forth, from Sendak to Katie, to Bogh and back again. It felt like he was going in circles, especially when he started thinking about the information leak.

How many times had they been close to catching Sendak, only to fall short at the last hurdle? It had always been infuriatingly close, and either down to one small detail that was wrong, or something that they just didn’t see until it was too late. 

Most of that was probably down to Sendak. He was intelligent, and that was half of what made him so dangerous, but there had to have been slip ups. This case proved it. He’d been too sure of himself, underestimated his hostage. She had left them a trail to follow with her escape and despite the obvious attempts to waylay the investigation team, they had a trail again, maybe two if they could follow Bogh.

The morning had fully risen when they reached the outskirts of the city, heading directly for the docks; it was a hive of police activity. Guards, raid teams and sniffer dogs all over the place at the gates to the shipping district. The guards let them pass through into the district, and with their instructions, he and Antok immediately met up with the local Superintendent, a man named Marshal Wade.

He was a tall man, older than Kolivan, but skinnier, and his hair was dyed to cover his greys, but still growing thick on his head and beard.

“Thank you for meeting with us Superintendent Wade, and for your response to my email,” Keith said after the formalities were done with. “The call log made by Mr Rhedus never made it to our network, and if you hadn’t responded we might have missed this,” he said to the man.

They were walking past the sea wall of the docks towards a low building that looked like it had once been a port or fisheries office, or just an industrial showroom. There were several cars outside of it, including a few that looked familiar.

“Of course,” he nodded. “I was wondering if the weather had been part of the problem; it wasn’t quite as bad as it was in Marchanda or Yendailian, but it was still strong and we had the back end of the storm for longer. It damaged a few hubs and was enough to drop our network down to basic connectivity, so I was worried it had disrupted my first email after we were called out to the scene,” he explained, passing through the holographic police barrier surrounding the building perimeter. “I just hope there’s something here that can help you find that poor woman. My team already has some copies of the interior footage if you would like to see that.”

Interior footage? Keith could have kissed the man on Regris’s behalf. Instead he did his best to appear professional and resist the attempt to punch the sky.

“There’s interior footage too? If I could have a look at that while Keith gets the run down on the full crime scene that would be fantastic,” Antok said instead as they headed through the door inside the building. “I’ve already had a look at some footage we managed to pull from street CCTV.”

Wade nodded. “Limited, it's from older cameras, but yes, there's some,” he said.

Following him through the building they stopped in most of the rooms to get a quick impression of the base layout. Antok zoomed towards a windowed office room after the tour that likely contained a treasure trove of information on the computer, but they looked at others too. One which had been a communal sleeping area, a kitchenette, and a limited bathroom, before finally the last room.

There was a mattress, topped with a pile of blankets, amongst which were the strands of frayed rope and the rusted screw that Katie had hidden in her clothes weeks previously, the makeshift tool dropped onto the floor.

Keith looked around the room, noting the lack of much security on the door, the bare interior. “Were there any cameras in here?” he asked, his eyes going to the sectioned off areas where some members of the forensics teams were taking photographs, bagging the blankets into bags, along with old bloodstained plasters and bandages that had been littering the floor

There was plenty of evidence to guess that prior to her escape attempt that this had been Katie’s prison; he wanted to know the details of that escape though, and given that her last room had been unknowingly bugged and watched, he wouldn't be surprised if this one had been either.

“Depends on your point of view…” the man said scratching his head. “We think it's been botched.”

Keith’s head snapped up. Botched? “What? How? In what way? Is it just missing from their computers?” he asked.

The man shrugged. “I'm not sure, to be honest,” he said honestly. “One of the girls in the computer lab noticed something was off. I think she’ll go over it with your partner while I show you the rest of the area. Aside from the main places involved with the Voltedge case, there’s quite a lot we think is related to events that have taken place here and in Marchanda…”

From then on, Keith made his way through the data and looked over the site of the fire. It took a while to get in contact with everyone who had been working that night, but eventually he tracked down the fire crews, the police who’d responded to the incident, and the ambulance teams.

He was mainly concerned with the firemen who had been at the scene, but the police had a few interesting points about the area being suspected of Purificationist activity for some time to the point it was common knowledge, something a few questions with the local businesses and one of the paramedics confirmed. It was something of an uneasy open secret that somehow hadn't quite made it to the taskforce.

That made Keith incredibly uneasy, and Zethrid and Regris both turned the air blue when he called to check in with them.

It was at the end of the second day when he traipsed back to the hotel room he and Antok had booked during the journey. Keith had taken Katie’s escape path from the camera footage Antok had found and tomorrow they would both be going through the route to try and get a perspective on how quickly she had been caught. The footage was sparse and patchy as the head of the Senfama police had told them.

Antok’s first job was helping the tech teams and analyse the footage, which immediately gave them a time frame to work with, because one of those moments discovered was some footage of Katie watching the media broadcast with the footage Sendak had demanded released. 

He’d interrogated her about leaking their location but she had lied at the time, so whatever he had done to find out what had happened had occurred later.

There was also footage of her shakily making her way out of her prison room a few moments after Bogh had entered; the street CCTV took over, showing her leaving the building. There was plenty to go through, and more questions to ask, an unending pile, not helped when Keith received a new message from Matt, sending on his most recent message from Sendak.

‘ _Since your father has kept to his regular updates updates since our last call, one on your sister; as you can see, she’s still doing well. Keep it up._ ’

She’d been given a change of clothes from the ones in the last call—which had been the same ones from her escape, at least a week old before—and was shown being given a drink of water by someone. Their back was to the camera so it was hard to tell who, but it wasn’t Bogh. They were too slim. She looked worse than she had last time, and was still blindfolded.

Antok told him on the way back to their hotel after the first day that he had managed to get into contact with the agent; they hadn’t promised anything, but apparently said he and Keith were right to be cautious in regards to Bogh. When Keith asked him if he had asked about what sort of condition Katie was in, Antok had looked a bit more grim-faced.

‘ _She’s… coping, if you want to call it that. Sendak’s been keeping her drugged whenever he can for the most part,_ ’ he’d said, which explained why she looked so pale and sick in the photograph. ‘ _Our friend is doing what they can to help, but they think there’s suspicion of an information leak on Sendak’s side too,_ he’d added. _‘They can’t reveal their identity to her. They’ll try to make contact with us if an opportunity presents itself in the next week or so to try and triangulate a bit more, but can’t guarantee it. They only spoke with me because they were away from the base._ ’

Which they still wouldn’t even tell them the location of. Keith wasn’t sure if he should be partially suspicious that the agent was being so flexible all of a sudden when they hadn’t for the past who-knew how long, but he wasn’t going to ask any questions he probably wouldn’t get any answers to. 

Antok wouldn't tell him, so Keith just had to focus on the information itself; that said, the news wasn’t very forthcoming, or encouraging. It only cemented Keith’s belief that Sendak was all but done with Katie. They needed something more encouraging.

Hopefully Ezor’s arrival to collect forensic evidence and examine the scene in person would give them some other insights. that would be a conversation for tomorrow however. 

On his second day in Port Thayserix, Keith had to check in with his team. Most of whom were as excited with the updates as he was.

“How bad is it so far?” he asked. “Any new notable leaks or are things more or less contained for now?”

‘ _Do you want the breaking-bad-news-to-Kolivan-gently version or the blunt version?_ ’ Regris asked in the background of the phone call as he filled Zethrid in on what they had found so far. ‘ _Because either one will take an hour to get through at this point._ ’

‘ _Probably enough to turn the air rancid with your commentary on it,_ ’ Zethrid agreed back with a sigh. ‘ _At this rate I wouldn’t be surprised._ ’

“You’ve found something?” Keith asked them both.

‘ _I’ve finished putting the information from our own observations onto the new map, and I’ve started filtering in the extras. I’m linking in the new information which turned up incorrect with the sources so that I can see if there are any patterns,_ ’ Zethrid said, her tone confident, something encouraging. ‘ _It’s taking a while, but I should have something soon. Once I've cross-referenced it with Regris’s stuff, we might have something. I don’t want to say until I know for certain though._ ’

‘ _You mean you will if I can get through the firewalls and security blockers,_ ’ Regris muttred, patching his earpiece into the call.

“Firewalls?” Keith asked. “Where are you looking?” 

‘ _I’ve worked down the footage Tabor got from Mr and Mrs Nolan’s neighbour of Bogh and we think he’s heading south, which matches with the direction the van from the escape footage headed before we lost it,_ ’ Regris said; he ignored the question. Keith didn’t know if that was promising or not. ‘ _We’re still tracking him and I’ve alerted the forces from Senfama, Rebulon, and Deeva. With any luck we can catch him, or follow him._ ’

“If you can, just follow him. It’s probably a false trail but follow him all the same, from a distance. We don’t know if he’s alone but if there’s a chance he can show us the location Sendak has moved to, we need to jump on it.”

There wasn’t any other option at this point. With their information loop already compromised, any chances that gave them a possible hint on Sendak’s location, then it was a precious commodity they needed to take advantage of. 

‘ _We’ll keep an eye on it. He’s still heading south for now; we’ll let you know more when something happens,_ ’ Regris said. ‘ _Oh, Mr Holt has asked Sendak to let him have a video call with Katie. He needs direct assistance with the blueprints. We haven’t had a response yet_.’

Keith nodded. “Alright,” he said, after realising they couldn’t see his gesture. “Keep me updated. Take care of yourselves.”

‘ _Pot. Kettle._ ’ Regris snorted before the line cut off, and Keith deactivated his earpiece. Pulling it off for the night, he sighed, and shut off the lights with a snap of his fingers.

There was so much happening, and none of it enough to point in one direction or another. He felt like the investigation was aimless, in the sense that they had no direction. No sense of what was going on, or where to look. The doubt in their information base was also enough to make them all nervous and uncertain about what they could and couldn’t see in the forensic evidence.

The third day brought a little more excitement back to the investigation, though whether that was a good thing or a bad thing was still a little dubious, and Keith went to bed later the same day still feeling unsure about the development.

They had gone through the escape route Katie had taken, and he’d looked at the building again, gone over the forensics with Ezor when she had arrived at the old warehouse office and joined the other teams.

There wasn’t much evidence to suggest a struggle. Blankets, some clothes, old medical dressings, old dishes that hadn’t been cleaned. There was also, curiously, a baby monitor which the checks revealed was covered in Katie’s fingerprints, and Bogh’s. Hers had been taken from a few items at her home to use as a check, and the match was almost a hundred percent. 

Ezor and the man from the local team explained that it had been on the floor, behind some of the boxes, hidden away. How had she found it, and why was it there when they were already watching her room?

Then he was called away from the room by Antok. Following him back through to the office, he was greeted by the limited footage that they had found of Bogh entering the room he had just been in, before around twenty-five minutes later, Katie struggled out of the room, locking it behind her.

The question remained too as to how she had overpowered a man with thrice her strength and at least twice her size, in her condition. She was weakened on the footage of her escape already. There had been a chair in the room, but she would have had to be quick and precise with that as a weapon. He didn’t think Bogh could have been taken by surprise that easily either. He’d already proven himself as intelligent.

“What is it?” he asked as Antok switched back to their footage of the cell room.

“Whatever you were thinking about Bogh,” he said as Keith pulled a chair up beside him. “I think it might be something to keep looking into. He looped the camera in Katie’s room not long after they arrived,” Antok said. “All the footage on the camera hard drive is fake.”

“So we don't have footage of what went on in there?” Keith asked, his gut churning.

If they didn't have footage of what had gone on inside the room, then it meant they had no way of gauging what had happened. They had theories yes, but Keith wanted the video evidence. Any shot into Katie's perspective of her situation was valuable more than just to know exactly what had happened, it helped them understand how her captors were thinking.

“No, but I know where it went, along with the rest of the back-ups,” Antok said. “It’s been sent to a device ID we’ve already seen from the messages Matt has been sent.”

“Bogh?” Keith blinked. “He’s got the footage? On his phone? Datapad?

Antok nodded. “I think it’s safe to say either he’s a creep, or he has some sort of goal of his own. I don’t know how Sendak and the others didn't notice, but there’s nothing to indicate any of the events we _know_ happened since they arrived here.”

Keith made a face; complications of not having the footage aside, neither of those were good options. Bogh hadn't been seen to be treating Katie with any more disrespect that the situation already demanded, not in the previous footage, but he had manipulated her. 

It was easy to see that she was more comfortable around him than anyone else, and he’d taken advantage of her unease to place and maintain his image as a figure of relative trust. Coerce her into being compliant.

If he’d developed some sort of fantasy surrounding her during his spying, then they could have two different problems to deal with, and that was far from ideal. If he had his own agenda, that too was just as bad, because it was an utterly unknown variable to an already dire situation. 

The only question was why? Why was he calling attention to himself now? Why bother to hide all the footage? What did Bogh stand to gain from separating from Sendak’s power structure within the cult? Did he want his own sect? Was this some sort of internal power play? Or was Mr Holts worst fears coming to fruition, and they were also dealing with a more personalised obsession?

It would have taken a lot of sneaking around to change the footage, especially if he wasn't the only one watching her, and didn't want to be caught by his companion cultists. Sendak definitely wouldn't want anyone to know he had a weak link within his rankings. Was he aware that Bogh had been hiding things from him? 

Then there was his real unspoken and unanswerable question; was Bogh the NCD Agent, and this was his limited way of trying to protect both his own back, and Katie, or was Keith just seeing hope where he wanted to see it?

“Get whatever you can off here before it gets packed up,” Keith said. 

“There’s something else,” Antok added, his tone uncertain as he tapped away on his keyboard. “I found some footage of Sendak; there’s no sound yet, but he is talking to someone I haven’t seen or heard in any of the other footage, a woman,” he explained, hitting a final key and starting up the video of the footage.

The shot was from the main hallway just outside the room they were watching the computer in, leading down to the reception area in front of the car park. Sendak and a woman in a smart trouser suit and blouse. She looked old, with white hair in a tight bun.

“She and Sendak arrived at the same time, after Macidus and Lahn had unlocked Katie’s door,” Antok explained.

Keith watched the cameras attentively, trying to get a good look at her face, trying to get an impression of her. They were talking at the turn in the hallway with Bogh, who was rubbing his head, sharing angry, and worried glances with the others, before turning and heading back towards the entrance to the car park.

The way Sendak was talking, even without any sound, showed a certain level of submission. He waited as she talked, kept his eyes on her, and seemed to be letting her direct things once they started moving.

“Do you recognise her at all?” Antok asked. “I’ve never seen her face on the cultist lists or suspect list.”

Keith shook his head. “Not on any of the lists that I've seen,” he said. “Can you find a better shot of her face?” he asked curiously. 

“Unfortunately not; that’s the best angle of her I could find,” Antok said, fast-forwarding the film a bit to show them leaving the building. “I’ve already sent it to Regris so he can double check, and I’ve run it through facial recognition. Nothing in the system as it is, but I’ll send it to my colleagues and see if they have anything.”

Keith nodded and they spent the rest of the late hour looking through the footage, trying to get better angles, but nothing that gave anything more substantial about the woman. She and Sendak arrived in a car that had a visible number plate, and was currently sitting outside the office.

They had footage of her arrival and that had potential to see where they had been before that. She could be a relative of Sendak’s or a superior. Maybe even both. But it was past 12am again, and while the hotel had been very understanding about the strange hours they were keeping, exhaustion crept up much easier when in an unfamiliar area.

So they made their way back, and Keith did his best to sleep instead of ruminating on the new developments or checking his phone again for any more updates from Kolivan, Regris or Matt and Romelle. The only one was that sendak had agreed to the call, but had refrained from including a date and time, so they were still waiting.

It was probably more through physical need of rest instead of caffeine that let him get a full eight hours, which was only interrupted by the blare and scream of an insistent metal song that Zethrid had assigned for herself.

Starting as he realised it was a phone call, he fumbled for his phone, sitting up and trying to wake up, to focus.

“What is it?” he asked. “Is everything okay?” he asked. 

It was a little earlier than she had normally been phoning to check in with her updates. Zethrid usually kept update calls to the same time from force of habit, so something that wasn’t from her non-work line outside that time could only be important.

‘ _Keith,_ ’ Zethrid’s voice cut sharply through the speaker. ‘ _You need to come back to Marchanda. There’s been a development,_ ’ She said, her voice hurried with the urge of a message that couldn’t wait any moment more.

“What kind of development?” He asked.

‘ _Bogh is in custody,_ ’ she said, the grim confidence in her voice potent. ‘ _Regris and Tabor, they managed to follow his trail to an old hideout, and Lance’s team got him last night. He isn’t talking yet, but I thought you want to come back and help me take a crack at him._ ’

Keith stared at the camera images in front of him, the reports and statements from the firemen, the ones that had only corroborated what Rolo’s strange, unfitting words.

“I’ll be back tomorrow,” he said finally, getting to his feet. “Does anyone else know yet?”

‘ _Just Kolivan and the raid team,_ ’ she assured him. ‘ _I’ve had him taken to one of our suspect safe houses instead of the station. It’s been busy here. I don’t know if he’s told you yet, but Sendak has a call set up for tonight.’_

Checking his phone, he saw several messages from Romelle and Matt, Kolivan, Matt’s with another image attachment, then thanked fate for his team. 

They used their own initiative, and not once had he ever had cause to doubt their judgement when he’d been absent, or been forced to watch them work from a distance.

Following Bogh would have been the better outcome, but the capture of a known conspirator and cultist? That would do wonders for team morale, as well as provide potential for further investigative progress.

“We’ll be on the way back in a couple of hours,” he said. “Did you make any more progress with the information boards?” he asked.

Zethrid was quiet for a moment, then she let out a breath.

‘ _I think it’s better to wait till you get back to talk about it,_ ’ she said finally. ‘ _But the simple answer is yes. I have to go. I’ll see you when you get back sir_.’

 _Sir?_ Keith blinked at the strange level of formality, then brushed it off. He had more to worry about than how casually his workmates and the members of his investigation team addressed him.

They had a suspect in custody, and a confirmed contact call with Sendak. Everything else was secondary as Keith rushed to his feet to begin the meagre packing for the return trip.

* * *

Closer and closer :) Several more things happening this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it!


	17. Nowhere to Stand

The ten-hour drive back from Port Thayserix to Marchanda passed much more slowly than the trip out had gone, defying the common perception of shorter return journeys as Keith’s mind churned with the information they’d found obtained at the scene, and the developments from his team.

Zethrid’s reluctance to talk could have been because she knew the identity of the agent Antok had contacted. Keith had harboured suspicions that it might be Bogh for a while, and it made sense; if there was an undercover agent they would also be aware of the problems in the police network, or at least, he hoped they were, otherwise they were doing a poor job for the sake of an innocent woman’s life

He’d checked his phone before leaving. Romelle and Kolivan had informed him of the call Sendak had scheduled at Sam’s request, for help with the 3D blueprints. Sendak seemed to be in a jovial mood after Sam had last sent a data drop of his progress, judging by his response, and agreed.

‘ _I need to speak to Katie directly regarding the next stage of the prototype design._ ’

‘ _A call will be arranged soon; your son will be sent the details. Thank you for your work Mr Holt._ ’ 

Matt had also informed him of the development, and included a screenshot of Sendak’s message after all the KBP memes, gamer id codes for various devices, and general chit chat, both from the case and irrelevant to it.

Neither of the messages from Sendak was anything extremely revealing, and the photo and video attachments in Matt’s merely showed Katie asleep—drugged unconscious—on a mattress with a few blankets tossed over her. 

The video was a closer shot, showing her gag being pulled off so they could hear her breathing. The lack of any protest and limpness with the way she was manhandled during the video further suggested she was drugged.

‘ _Another update. Rest assured that she will be more alert for my call with your father. Tuesday, 7:20pm_.’

Keith had felt like throwing his phone out of the window again, but one odd look from Antok as he gripped the device a little too tightly (and probably the expression on his face) had been enough for him to count to ten and cool his irrational moment of anger.

He still had to drive all the way back to Marchanda, and get to the station before 7:20pm, preferably.

That had been the only thought that kept him focusing on the road really, the importance of getting back. The hours seemed to drag, and when they stopped at the same burger place as they had on the way back for a break, to update Kolivan, and eat, he felt impatient to get back to driving.

They had Bogh in custody, but a call was due anyway. He was uneasy about what Bogh’s absence would mean; unless Zethrid had more information following his imprisonment at the safe house, then they had no way to know how far up in the hierarchy of the cult Bogh was positioned, or what other involvement he had beside Katie.

If Sendak had noticed he was missing, and was displeased with that, it might make him difficult to deal with, more so than usual. Once again, Keith couldn’t help but think about something Antok had said too; he’d said the agent had only spoken to him because they had been outside of Sendak’s base. Bogh had been captured south of Marchanda, away from wherever Sendak had placed himself.

It was food for thought for the rest of the journey. Eventually, he called ahead, and with permission granted, started the pink and purple warning lights and disconnected from the main grid, kicking his bike into higher speeds that they just weren’t going to make sticking to the gridway for the whole trip.

It wasn’t hard to glide up over the top of the other hovercars that had slowed in response to the lights, and before long they were heading across rougher terrain; Antok clearly wasn’t used to off-grid driving because Keith hear several sharp intakes of breath as they cut across country a little more directly to get to the next grid that was closer and a quicker route back to Marchanda.

They made it with just under an hour to spare; thanks to a quick call in when they reached the city grid (and Antok breathed a sigh of relief), Regris was waiting for them in the underground parking bay. He was grim faced and sombre as always, but it looked like he had slept at least, so that was something. 

“You look like you’re going to boke,” Regris noted as Antok staggered up the steps beside him and they made their way into the building.

“I’m not usually a field agent,” Antok grimace. “I just liaise their reports to Commissioner Mozak. I _hate_ driving off-grid. ”

Regris patted him on the back encouragingly. “Just you wait, stick around long enough and Keith’ll have you getting your own licence; I hated it at first too but he kicked it out of us. It’s like going in a boat, first time is always the worst.”

“Anything new? Sendak didn’t change his call time?” Keith asked as they headed up the stairs. “Any luck with _our_ guest?”

“No, so far everything is on schedule. He’s still at the safe house, but he’s not been very chatty. Kolivan is waiting for you,” Regris said, his tone hesitant, like he had more to say. “Antok, you good to try and help me try and triangulate the call signal with the data from Zeth’s maps or do you need a toilet break mate?”

As the two computer experts talked about whatever tracking method they were going to try on the call signal, Keith left them behind, heading up the stairs and made his way up to the investigation hub. 

Kolivan was talking with Sam and Colleen off to one side, Matt and Romelle beside them. His friend’s eyes widened as she caught sight of him, and gestured in his direction to Kolivan

“You made it,” Kolivan said with relief as he approached them all. “You can fill me in after the call; we're expecting it anytime.”

Keith nodded; Sendak had always been fairly prompt; either slightly earlier than his message dictated, or exactly at the time he’d given. “How’s the media handling going?” he asked curiously.

“They're getting pesky again; it’s been a while since there was any new information for the public,” Matt said. “I’ve told them bits and pieces from the messages that we've seen, but not much else since the last interview. He’s made no demands for it and I didn’t want to give them something I shouldn’t, but I would like to have another conference soon.”

Keith frowned, then nodded. They’d have to think of something to tell the media. Once he’d seen Bogh, maybe it could be something to offer, but not yet. He wanted to speak to Bogh himself, before anyone had the chance to try and strangle their new information point or otherwise influence him.

“Can you stall them for a few more days?” he asked. Matt nodded. “Do it, after that we might have something you can tell them. I need to confirm some information first. If it's nothing, we can release some call footage, some of the more recent photos.”

Keith looked away from Matt, turning his attention to his father instead. “How are you holding up Mr Holt?” he asked. 

The man looked exhausted, and the pallor he’d been wearing since Keith met him hadn’t faded. He may have been home to clean up a bit, because his beard had been trimmed ,and he looked a little fresher than usual, but otherwise, he was as nervous and tense as always.

“I’ve...made some progress. There are some things I’d like to try and talk about, and I need to figure out some details, but I’m close to having a prototype ready, he said despondently. “But it doesn’t feel like—”

Whatever he had been about to say was cut off by the sharp sound of a phone dialling through the office, and as Keith tuned his earpiece into the comms system everyone took their places. Antok and Regris were by the computers, already working, letting the line ring through a little. After a few rings, Sam nodded, and Sendak’s face appeared on the computer screen before them.

Unlike the previous time, Katie was not on the screen as she had been in previous calls. Sendak was sitting in the chair in a relaxed manner, and there was no sound or other indication that she was even present.

Keith didn’t like the image that presented. Sendak looked too confident. Not having a visual assurance of Katie’s condition was also unsettling. Keith knew he was just taunting them to unsettle Sam, but it put him on edge too.

 _‘Mr Holt,’_ he greeted. ‘ _You expressed a desire to discuss your plans._ ’

“I'm close to having a prototype ready,” Sam started; his voice more confident than it had been in past calls; he could be getting used to them or just felt boosted by the inroads made on the design progress, however unhelpful it actually was. “I need to talk to Katie about the designs. Voice recordings aren't any help for this part. We need to be seeing the same blueprints to know what we’re talking about with my knowledge handicap.”

‘ _Considering the progress you’ve made with her previous responses, I don't see why this part should be any different_.’

“Because if I get the next section wrong it won’t be buildings that get blown up, or at least not any specific ones. Just the ones you and your friends happen to be standing in. This section of the design is dealing with the trigger mechanisms,” Sam said, insistent if a little shaky and a line of frustration on his forehead. “I assume that’s important enough to merit a direct discussion, regardless of the fact you already agreed to let me speak with Katie; if not by all means, I’m happy to proceed unsupervised.”

He snapped and spat the last words, before anyone could stop him, but Sendak only chuckled at the empty threat. ‘ _That does sound unpleasant,_ ’ he said, his voice almost sing-songing the tone in his otherwise sedate reply.

Then he disappeared from the screen for a few moments. Eventually, he returned with another set of footsteps following him; Macidus was behind him, looking a little disgruntled, when Sendak returned with Katie hanging over the back of his shoulder.

‘ _A promised, your daughter,_ ’ he said, setting her into the seat of a chair. ‘ _As I assured you, she's still unharmed. A little sleepy maybe, but unharmed._ ’

Keith could see Sam’s back tensing at the comment, and the sight of the woman. Her clothes had changed to match the picture Matt had received, and she’d clearly cleaned up at some point, but she looked paler again, and seemed tired, exhausted as Sendak fastened her into the chair.

“I beg to differ on that.” Sam all but growled; the words at least got a response from Katie, who jerked at the sound, angling her head ,trying to work out where it had come from as Sendak gave a light chuckle.

‘ _Then I’ll rephrase; she has no new scratches to worry about,’ he said. ‘Lahn gave her an unintentional scare a few days ago, but no harm done,_ _and I’ve tasked someone else less prone to idiocy with her care._ ’

Scare? What was he talking about? What kind of scare? Sendak had highlighted that something had happened but was that just to scare them? Why would he go out of his way to do that when he already had full control of the situation?

He hadn’t mentioned Bogh—did that mean he didn’t know he was in custody yet? He didn’t appear concerned. He seemed very at ease and confident in his management and control of his manipulations. If he knew Bogh had been captured, he wouldn't nearly be so calm. He’d be more insistent, demanding, and probably wouldn’t have agreed to let this call happen.

‘ _I’ll start your timer after you’ve finished the discussions you need for the prototype today, as a show of good faith for all your work,_ ’ he said, lifting the woman’s face. ‘ _And to make it up to Katie for Lahn’s slight. It was unacceptable after she’s been so well behaved._ ’

Keith didn’t like the apparent generosity when so far Sendak had been all too prepared to resort to torture and disfigurement as motivators for Sam’s work on the blueprints.

He still had his hand around the woman’s neck, and was speaking to her, quieter, presumably threatening her judging by the quick nod and the impression of his thumb into the hollow of her throat.

Satisfied, he started pulling her gag off, but Keith noticed that he didn’t remove his hand, still maintaining his threatening position around her before he moved on to the blindfold. It didn’t look to be a fierce grip, there was no clench in his hands or fingers, but it seemed to be enough.

Katie’s face when he pulled away the blindfold was repulsed and sickened, and definitely scared in a way that she hadn’t really displayed on the calls before. It was easier to see how much weight she had lost in her face, and there was a shake in her shoulders and the smudged dampness of tears on her face as he squeezed her throat once more in warning, then began to walk away.

‘ _Tell me when you’re done helping your father, and then I’ll start the timer._ ’

“Honey?” Sam called out, as close as he could get to the screen as Katie tried to breathe through her coughs and splutters, tried not to hyperventilate, wincing away from the lights and screen brightness before her.

‘ _I-I’m okay,_ ’ she mumbled after a few deep, slow, measured breaths; if Sendak hadn’t tied her shoulders to the back of the chair, she probably would have toppled straight out of it. Each call, her condition had got a little worse, but the jump this time was much starker, and Keith felt sick knowing they still couldn’t really help her. ‘ _I just…_ ’

“Take all the time you need sweetheart,” her father said, his voice steady of his own shock and dismay, encouraging instead. “I’m not going anywhere; want me to tell you what I’ve been working on so far from your responses?”

She nodded, and Keith stood back from the screen as Sam began talking about his designs, reciting the words and going through so many technical details that Keith was lost within about five minutes of the process. 

He spoke purposely though, giving Katie something to focus on, a familiar voice to hear, a friendly tone, something that she could maybe call reassurance. She was certainly paying attention, because her breathing evened out, away from the encroaching panic attack that had been brewing.

Finally she began to open her eyes again, small glimpses that made her wince at first, before they got longer, and she was able to look around a little, orientate herself 

“ _…_ means we’ll be able to have the prototype ready in the next week or so, maybe the next few days…” her father said, making her start for a moment. Like she had heard something of significance, or surprise.

Her perception had been greatly disabled from her, so knowing what day of the week and what time it was probably would have been surprising to her, but she recovered from it fast, turning her attention to the screen once she could squint at it.

 _‘W-What kind of dynotherm filters did you use?_ ’ she asked finally, after a moment of silence between her father’s explanations and her examination of the screen before her. ‘ _And what kind of molecular reflection array?_ ’

“The filters are made from Faunatonium,” her father said. “And it’s a Scaultrite array.”

She pursed her lips, thinking for a moment, before she nodded. ‘ _It sounds okay. If you give it a Psyferite battery instead of the Groggery one you might have less problems getting the trigger mechanism working but it would overload the circuits,_ ’ she said, her voice cracking and hoarse through the speakers. ‘ _If you insulate the circuits with a Fertonium lining, that should get around the melting problem. If you still have problems after that with the trigger mechanism it will probably be the coding._ ’

Macidus was sitting behind her, engrossed in his phone previously, but he looked up and got to his feet, heading off-screen and returning with a water bottle, which Katie took a few long sips from before she and her father continued to talk about the blueprints. Sam had a few more questions, and he took plenty of notes from her responses, before Katie looked around for Macidus to tell him they were done as far as the planning went.

He was silent mostly, just telling Keith that he had the timer ready for them both to countdown once Matt and Colleen (and this time Romelle) had pulled up chairs of their own. After that, Keith stepped back a bit from the screen, trying again to give them some privacy whilst being within range and aware of the events that were occurring.

He did spare a glance back for Romelle; even if she was used to some unpleasant sights from the morgue and forensics lab, Katie was her friend, her sister-in-law, and while she wasn’t quite corpse-like, he knew it would still be difficult for her to see, even with all of her training.

As they talked—‘ _Honey what happened? What did he mean by scare?_ ’ her father was asking—Keith made his way to the back of the room towards Kolivan.

“Antok tells me you've had a fruitful trip to Port Thayserix,” he said. “I’ve started talking to the Commissioner; we’re going to send a team into the area to investigate whatever activity we’ve missed and go through their own records,” he sighed. “Are you going to tell them? About the capture?”

Keith shrugged. “It depends on what we can get out of him, and what happens in—” 

‘ _It… it was… I couldn’t see anything and… I got confused… It was for washing and eating but Lahn just grabbed me so I panicked_ ’—Keith paused as he heard Katie’s voice echoing through his earpiece—‘ _but I'm fine. I promise. It was just because I couldn’t see anything. Sendak threw him out when he heard me yelling, and some woman came in instead of Lahn…_ ’

Keith was so busy trying to uncoil his gut from the wrenching anger and uncertain knots it wound itself into as he listened to Katie that he nearly missed the words themselves from their implications.

The way she was trying to justify the way she was being treated, the uncertainty as she spoke about the ‘ _scare_ ’ as Sendak had put it, was completely conditioned. She was trying to pass off blame in fear of retribution. Maybe she was just trying to reassure her family that she had just been ‘ _overreacting_ ’ to another unpleasant situation she had no control of, but the way it sounded… 

It made him feel angry on her behalf. At the start of this she had been so fierce and determined, and even opinionated and almost passionate in her attempts to disrupt and cause problems for her captors, and watching that sort of spirit be slowly broken down was… well, it was awful.

He was also distracted by the implications of the said ‘ _scare_ ’, and what exactly might have been running through her head during that moment, before he realised that Katie had mentioned a woman. 

Sendak didn’t have any other women in his immediate circle of cohorts with Twyla dead in the explosion at Voltedge, not that they knew of, but they had seen a woman in the footage at Port Thayserix. Was the woman who’d been supervising Katie instead of Lahn the same person?

He wished there was a way to find out, but any more attempts to share information would just be downright dangerous, and probably end up with some kind of retribution from Sendak, the kind they had been desperately trying to avoid. 

It wouldn’t be worth the risk to try to ask Katie anything, especially when she’d already shown reluctance to do so the last time they had video contact with her. Still. Her conversation with her family confirmed that there was a woman involved in senior cult ranks, and that she was involved in a direct manner.

“—what happens in this call,” he finished, getting his thoughts back under control. “If Sendak makes any demands, then probably not yet. I want to talk to him first, so definitely not yet.”

“Mr Rhedus’s statement was correct then?”

Keith nodded. “It looks that way,” he said. “We also found out he tampered with Sendak’s camera footage of the cell Katie was kept in there,” he added, watching confusion and shock sweep over his superintendent’s face. “It was looped.”

Kolivan glanced over at Mr and Mrs Holt, who were still talking with their daughter, answering her questions about the date, what time it was and what had happened to her grandparents— ‘ _he said he wanted their address; is grandad okay? Did something happen to them?_ ’—and a few other things, trying to fill in whatever gaps of knowledge she had accrued.

“Considering what we just heard, I don’t think we should tell Mr and Mrs holt about this until you’ve had a chance to clarify the reasoning behind that from the man himself,” he frowned. “Just in case.”

Keith spared a look at the family—‘ _They’re fine honey, it was just the datachip; your grandma threw out all her cigarettes after she gave it to the police_ ’—before he nodded; on that he and Kolivan were both in full agreement.

After going over a few more details with Kolivan about the forensics results and the reports from the firemen and other emergency service workers he’d interviewed about the fire, Keith wandered back closer to the computer hub.

Romelle was talking to Katie now, asking her a little about how she felt, perhaps trying to determine how badly she had been affected from being drugged. Romelle had told him that Q wasn’t a drug that came without consequences with its use. She might be talking about her baby, her due date, and making promises not to show anyone any pictures or sonograms until Katie was able to see them too, but she was still part of the investigation team.

“You’re sure they’re giving you something to eat and drink?” Romelle checked. “Is it full meals or just convenience food?”

Katie shrugged. ‘ _Just whatever they can give me without having to untie me I guess. I haven’t noticed much. Bogh gave me pizza a lot, or macaroni cheese, but…_ ’ she frowned. ‘ _I don’t know. It’s hard to remember right now. I think Macidus gave me some cereal when I woke up?_ ’ 

Her offhand talk about Bogh sounded almost wistful, and Keith wondered how Bogh’s capture by police might have affected her. He’d never thought about it, but he would have been a familiar face to her, and perhaps more trustworthy in spite of his actions than the other men (and now the woman) she had never met or known of before being taken hostage

‘ _When… when is your due date?_ ’

The question was a repeat of an earlier one. She’d had to ask a few details over when she was just talking to her father too. The drug was still affecting her memory, even if she was technically lucid. Was that deliberate on Sendak’s part? On the one hand it meant her advice to her father might not be a hundred percent accurate, but it also meant she was less likely to notice or remember things he didn’t want her to, or give away much information.

At first, he wondered if her gentle, subtle probes were safe, but Romelle either had a better touch than he and anyone else did, or Katie didn’t pick up on them, because Keith didn’t hear any responses that might have told them anything useful, only what Sendak wanted them to know; Katie was alive, and her very basic needs were being met, if uncomfortably.

She was having trouble responding at all now. It was taking her a lot of effort to stay focused, and she looked sick. Not pale—she had looked pale in all the calls he’d seen her in and rightly so given her situation—but in her manner. She was wincing away from the light of the screens and lacking energy, her head was swaying a little as she tried to respond.

Even the timer beeping only just managed to catch her attention, dismay creeping onto her face as Sendak got to his feet, crossing the room from his seat behind her, at the back just out of camera shot. 

Matt, Romelle, and Colleen and Sam said reluctant goodbyes, with promises to see her soon that—if only for the affection behind the words than any belief in them—at least seemed to give Katie a little reassurance.

It was frustrating. Watching it be forced on not just Katie, but her family too. There wasn’t much they could do to stop it, and for once, no one had been hurt or angered during the call. It had gone as smoothly as they could have hoped for previous ones. Antok and Regris were sweating from concentration and sour faced, but Katie hadn’t ended up hurt, or threatened with torture again. That was objectively better than their previous attempts.

Keith didn’t like it one bit. Sendak was too calm, and too content with how things were going for Keith to feel like this was any kind of progress. It wasn’t progress. If they wanted to see progress, then they needed to find Katie, soon.

Her dismay returned when Sendak approached the back of her chair again, fastening the blindfold back around her eyes, then taking a needle from Macidus and a grip of her chin.

‘ _Wait, I didn’t say anything, please, not again, please, don’t —’ _

Sendak tilted her head to one side, muffling her protests with his hand over her jaw as he slid the needle calmly into her neck. 

‘ _I trust if you have any more problems that you will contact me again,_ ’ Sendak said, waiting as Katie struggled for a moment, before going limp in unconsciousness. ‘ _Things have progressed much more pleasantly for everyone since Katie volunteered her help. I would hate to see it being wasted,_ ’ he added as Macidus lifted her out of the chair and carried her off screen.

Mr Holt’s knuckles turned white as he kept his temper from exploding, a shade paler with anger and fear after the deliberate flaunting of control in the scene Sendak had just presented before them. He may not be torturing Katie, but he could still manipulate what happened to her, something he seemed keen to remind them of.

“Somehow I doubt that,” Sam said through gritted teeth. “But in answer to your question, yes.”

‘ _Wonderful. Till next time Mr Holt._ ’

The call cut off, somewhat anticlimactically. Keith almost felt like there should have been something else, that there should have been something he ought to have noticed, seen, picked up on, but there was nothing. It had been a relatively uneventful call between them and Katie’s kidnapper.

That should have been good thing It _was_ a good thing. Katie had been drugged again, which they couldn’t do anything about directly no matter how unpleasant that was for her, but it was better than torture threats or burns or strangulation.

And yet, even as he and Kolivan talked with Sam, reassured him and his family, it still felt like something was wrong. Romelle, judging from the concern in her eyes, knew it too. It was too sedate, too calm.

But without anything to check or spend too much time analysing, there was little to speculate about regarding the feeling that lingered once the talk was over, and he was free to head out to his bike. If fate was feeling kind, he would have better luck at the safe house.

The engine hummed to life, and with uneasy thoughts swirling in the aftermath of the call, Keith left the station, following Zethrid’s directions to the safe house on the other side of the city.

It was time to talk with Bogh.

* * *

Another slow chapter but one that needed to happen. Slow and steady wins the race Keith. Just don't loose your cool first.

You'll notice we have a counter to the last chapter for this story now—four more chapters left in Keith POV! Another break is due to bring Katie's. POV in line but we're nearly there on both fronts! then onto part 5 <3

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	18. Now Look In My Face

The safe house Bogh had. been taken to was a two-hour drive across Marchanda, located in a small suburb. It had been fitted for the secure holding of criminal suspects whose identity needed to remain anonymous for high profile or high importance cases, and several of the surrounding homes were permanently occupied by undercover officers.

The house itself also had top of the line security, plenty of cameras, and fitted cells; there was something vindicating and justifying in knowing Bogh was now in a similar confinement to what he had introduced Katie to as Keith approached the building. 

He held his ID up to the door lock, then pressed the buzzer for the intercom. There was a pause before someone buzzed him through and he heard the door locks opening. Zethrid was waiting for him in the hallway, and she immediately pointed down to a viewing screen set into the wall.

Following her down the hallway, he looked through and into the room where Bogh was currently sitting on the simple frame bed, looking up at the ceiling. He looked uneasily unruffled by the fact that he had been arrested into police custody, and that made Keith’s teeth grind.

“He was pacingmore this morning and for a while after he’d been apprehended,” Zethrid said, presumably tracking his thoughts. “We’ve been watching him on the cameras, and I got some basic confirmation of identity from him but that was all,” she sighed.

Keith scowled at the man through the one-sided glass. “He clammed up?” he asked. “Nothing?”

Zethrid shook her head. “He gave me all his information, was being cooperative, which was surprising—” she frowned. “—I was expecting more reluctance from him, but he confirmed his identity and his gave an initial confession to the abduction and his role in the bombing of Voltedge,” she explained. “I asked him about Sendak, but that was when he stopped talking.”

“Do you have his phone?” Keith asked. “His datapad?”

“Regris has been getting everything off of it,” she said. “There’s a mine of stuff. Tabor and I have been helping with it when we can. The weirdest part is footage of—”

“—of the Port Thayserix base?” he asked, snapping his eyes from the cultist to Zethrid.

Her expression was one of disbelief, but she nodded. “I haven’t seen all of it, we skipped through parts to the morning when Katie tried to run and… It…” she said. “It’s… Keith, he let her escape.”

Keith looked for a hint of a misspeak, or perhaps a bad joke on Zethrid’s face, but he didn’t see one. Then he glanced back at the cultist through the cell window.

“What do you mean, he _let_ her escape?” he asked. 

Zethrid pointed to a sofa on the opposite side of the hallway, still in view of the window, and untucked her own datapad from beneath her arm as they sat down. 

“Regris is going through the rest of the footage but… it’s hard to call it anything else Keith,” she said reaching a section of the footage and handing the datapad across to him.

Looking down at the screen, Keith watched the missing section from the footage they had found in Port Thayserix, starting with Katie working on cutting through her restraints with the rusty screw she had sneaked from the previous hideout into her clothes.

It took her a few hours, long past midnight to around 2am to get through the ones on her hands. From there she had a bit less trouble with the ones on her legs and ankles, then she finally pulled off the tape wound around her jaw, spitting out the rag.

Then, after a moment, probably comprehending that she had actually managed to get out of her restraints, she began a slow, staggered walk across the room, heading for the boxes where they had found the baby monitor.

She threw a blanket over it first from one of the piles on the mattress, to muffle the sound, before carefully turning it over and removing the battery. She then took some of the clothes from the hold-all and packed them onto the bed into a vague, Katie-sized human shape, which she covered up with more blankets.

After that, she tested lifting a wooden chair around a few times, and after checking her mannequin again, Keith watched, a little amazed as she scuttled back across the floor and put the battery back into the baby monitor. Then she stuffed the rag back into her mouth and screamed and cried through it, making staggered coughing choking noises.

Then she pulled the battery out again, and shrunk herself behind all the clutter, a blanket in hand. The door handle turned and Bogh bolted into the room, rushing over to the dummy.

‘ _Shit, shit, don't you dare be dead,_ ’ he was swearing as Katie stepped out from her hiding place, and made her way across the room, throwing the blanket over him as he tried to rouse the pile of clothes she had mocked up. ‘ _Hey, Princess, wake u —_’

As he was cut off by the blanket being thrown over his head, Katie picked up the chair, slamming it down over the back of his head. He stumbled face forward onto the mattress, and she whacked him again with it again. 

“I think she’s making it up as she goes,” Zethrid said. "But you can’t help admiring her tenacity,” she said. "The fact she had the drive to keep going is amazing in and of itself. I just hope she’s kept hold of it.”

Keith couldn’t help but hope, after seeing the earlier call, that Katie still had some of it left too. The amount of time it had to have taken her to plan this, to work out when it was safe to try and escape, and how to overcome all the obstacles in her way was made all the more wrenching to think about when he considered that Sendak had caught her again anyway.

He couldn’t help but feel the same admiration though. The mental fortitude she’d been displaying was amazing, and more than many people in her situation would have. But he wasn’t here to ponder about how brave and daring the victim was, and turned his attention directly back to the video.

There was a pause as she set the chair down, hesitantly checking and poking him where he’d flopped prone, concerned maybe that she’d hit him too hard, or checking he was out cold, before scavenging his pockets, searching through them looking for something.

Then she turned and looked at the door, which was still slightly ajar. After taking his wallet, she took the key, and—Keith knew from other footage—locked the door behind her before making her way along the corridor, and out of the old port office.

Still inside the room, he watched as Bogh sat up, clearly a little disorientated, rubbing the back of his head, but otherwise fully mobile, and after rattling the door handle to find it locked, broke up the chair a little like he was breaking a toothpick in half, and returned to his former position on the mattress

“When you told me the footage at the base was looped, I couldn’t quite grasp the idea; I was expecting something more perverse, frankly,” Zethrid said. “Then I watched this, and… honestly, I’m genuinely confused about what the hell is going on with this guy,” she said skipping ahead a little in the video.

The clip she played showed a conversation with Macidus and Lahn as they came in, disturbed by all the noise and delays, and Bogh outright lied about what had happened to them—‘ _I don’t know, something hit my head_ ’—feigning far more disorientation than he had just displayed walking around and breaking the chair.

“He jumps up when Sendak ordered him to burn a cigarette into her back a few times, but he’s hiding the footage on his datapad and lying to the others about the escape? Not to mention lying about the zaiforge in the fire later on?” she asked. “I almost feel like he wanted to be caught!”

“It’s possible he does,” Keith frowned, getting to his feet and looking back at the man now dozing on the bed. “Katie mentioned in the call that Bogh hadn’t been present for a while, probably since he dropped off his delivery to her grandparents; she wasn’t fond of her substitute keeper but Sendak doesn’t seem to be alarmed by his absence. It’s possible that he’s here because Sendak wants him to be, or he doesn’t know we’ve arrested him yet.”

Zethrid scratched the back of her head through her mass of curls. “One is good, the other gives me goose bumps thinking about it,” she said, before nodding her head back down the hallway. “You might want to see the rest of the work before going in to talk to him.”

Keith followed her back through from the viewing window to the very basic, serviceable living room on the opposite side of the hallway, close to the entrance and stairs up to the second floor.

Regris was completely surrounded by screens and computing towers, and many, many empty coffee mugs. It looked, frankly, like a hacker had started nesting amongst a pile of cables and data drives to his eyes. There were boards set up of the investigation near identical to the ones in the station, which Tabor was slowly adding new markers and information points to when they stepped into the room.

“How long have you been here?” he asked, looking around at the jackets and duffle bags that indicated several days of habitation (more than this morning’s update on Bogh’s capture ought to warrant), and stepping around a couple of boxes of take-away that had yet to make it out to the rubbish bins.

“Since before we apprehended Bogh,” Zethrid said. “We decided it would be safer to keep the full investigation here, and the dummy up at the station. After Tabor and Regris tracked down Bogh, we brought him here too. 

“Alfor’s raid team captured him,” Tabor added, looking over his shoulder from the boards for a moment (Regris remained oblivious thanks to the noise-cancelling headphones he was wearing to help him concentrate). “Kolivan arranged for them to take over security so that it remained in a need to know circle as much as possible.”

Keith was impressed at the amount of quick security organisation, but the need for it on such a detailed level made him anxious for the reasoning behind it; Keith had a horrible feeling that ominous declaration was paving the way for an answer that was going to make him kick something, but decided to ask the preceding question anyway.

“About that, you were hush hush on the phone,” he started, hanging up his jacket. “What exactly did you find out?” he asked, stepping around the rest of the junk and piles of paper that filled the intervening gaps between Regris’s equipment towards the boards.

“You got the new copies while you were in Port Thayserix of the activity maps, right?” Zethrid asked. Keith nodded.

“I looked them over a few times and I could tell they were different, but whatever the significance is, I didn’t notice right out,” he said, looking at the board that was focused around Marchanda. 

Sendak’s base, Voltedge, Katie’s apartment, her brother, parents, and grandparents’ homes and anywhere there had been a sighting or spike of Purificationist activity had been highlighted just like before.

“I think the easiest way is to start with the tampered information, what we had before,” Zethrid said, tapping a few buttons on the screen and bringing up the original screen and its original markers. “These are all the instances of Purificationist activity that we had recorded, including successful interventions, failed ones, sightings, investigation sights, and attacks within Marchanda,” she began. “I originally began by looking through each of the events and checking their basic data after we noticed the discrepancies. One I was done, I had this map—” she pulled up the second map again, this time in a fade, which replaced and rearranged a great deal of the markers more gradually. “—after that I began to check the sources of all the information, and compared it to the information on the map beforehand, looking at all the errors and which ones came up as false, with Tabor and Regris’s help.”

Regris was apparently listening because he cocked a finger-gun in her direction as he worked. 

“And?”

Zethrid and Tabor glanced at each other, then switched back to the dodgy map, and layered the misinformation over the top of the verified one. “It’s so subtle it’s no wonder we didn’t catch it sooner; all the times are off by either an hour of two, or the address is just a few streets away; it something you could credit to an error in the data recording somewhere, or just being slightly off in the investigative process. There are also enough successes mixed in that we couldn’t be accused of not delivering any results at all. That said, there is one thing all of it had in common… it…” she broke off, looking a little uncomfortable

“It came from the NCD,” Regris said, slipping off one of his headphones. “I had to stealth my way into their systems to check the data to be sure. I didn’t stay long, and just looked around a bit—” Keith dimly realised in his shock that Regris was talking about hacking into a government security database. “—but all of the information where we were wrong, or out by minutes or had the wrong building? It came from the NCD. That’s how Sendak knew we were coming when Katie told Matt where to find her. I went back and looked through the footage. He got that message, remember? I think we assumed it was from one of the cultists, but it wasn’t from outside the base. It was from inside the station.”

Keith let that information sink in, waiting for any more shock than the horrible sensation that came from suspicions (that no one had really wanted to think about) being confirmed. It didn’t come. Not really. For some reason, he wasn’t entirely surprised that their leak was from higher up in the chain of security command, no matter how chilling it was to know that a cultist had made their way into the NCD rankings (or that one of their own had somehow been radicalised).

“Do we have any idea who it might be?” he asked, feeling tired all of a sudden, rubbing his eyes for a moment as he sat down on the floor, leaning against the base of the sofa and looking at the boards.

“Antok checks out so far, but I’d still rather keep this information from him; we don’t know how many people he has to report to,” Tabor said; Keith grunted in agreement. That was a fair point. “Aside from that, not really, the trail is so subtle it’s hard to follow it to any one person.”

“Not to mention NCD security isn’t easy to get into,” Regris added. “I’m trying to follow the information points but it’s not exactly as simple as picking a needle from a haystack when I keep having to dodge the security blocks.”

Keith patted him on the shoulder. “It's okay. This is all more than we could have hoped for, however unpleasant. Just be careful, and at least consider going to get some sleep,” he offered.

“Pot. Kettle,” Regris grumbled back, though his shoulders did slump as though he’d been waiting for someone to tell him he was allowed to stop for a while, and the franticness of his typing began to decrease.

Keith snorted, wondering if he ought to let the team know about the rest of the NCD involvement. He’d been sworn to secrecy, but when the NCD itself was compromised, any orders from them were already in question in his opinion.

“There’s something else you should know; I was under orders to keep this quiet after the raid failed, but in light of this, there’s no point hiding it anymore,” he said finally, catching Zethrid and Tabor’s attention. “The NCD have an agent in the cell that kidnapped Katie.”

Tabor looked like he was going to be sick, and Zethrid looked like she had stopped working, or was about to explode; you could never quite tell with Zethrid. 

“No wonder you were so grumpy; that was why you and Kolivan weren’t getting along?” Tabor asked.

Keith nodded. “Initially their role was aimed towards higher rankings than Sendak, so they weren’t allowed to assist directly with the rescue attempt, as that was more important than Katie to them,” he snarled a little. “I don’t know who it is; they have kept the bases from being blown up on being abandoned, but that’s about it,” he added, pausing in thought again. “Antok contacted the agent while we were in Port Thayserix; they were off base, and apparently worried about Katie’s condition deteriorating, so agreed to try and get in contact with him when an opportunity presented itself.”

The tension in the room was palpable. Zethrid quirked an eyebrow. “Off base?” she checked. Keith nodded. She frowned in thought for a moment. “We know of one person who’s been off base for a week now.”

The silence got thicker. “I don’t like it, but makes some sense,” Regris offered, pulling off his headphones and backing away from the computer. “Bogh has been Katie’s bodyguard for two years; if he was acting undercover, and wasn’t allowed to reveal the attack—for whatever stupid fucked up reasoning—then his next best option would be to continue watching her during captivity. He hasn’t wrapped her in cotton wool, but the only time he’s really treated her with any viciousness was when Sendak ordered him to…" he mused. "Some of the footage I found today was interesting too.”

“Interesting how?” Zethrid asked.

Regris pulled a datapad off the floor into his lap, sending a video to one of the map screens to play through. “It’s an argument after that call, in the second base, part of it was in the main footage sent from Port Thayserix, and I got the interaction with Bogh from the diverted stock,” he explained. “After they arrived, Sendak got him to ask Katie while she was out of it from the drugs if she had supplied any information to the investigation teams, and the way he talks to Katie is interesting.”

Keith watched as the video clip started, showing the room where Katie had been held prisoner in Port Thayserix. She was slumped on the mattress, protesting a little as Bogh untied her blindfold. 

‘ _There you are Princess,_ ’ Bogh said, condescendingly. ‘ _Sorry about the wakeup call, but you need to eat and Sendak wanted me to ask you something._ ’

Katie stared for a moment then cringed away from him as he moved to take her gag off, protesting weakly. Bogh let out a sigh—almost despondent—as he ignored it. ‘ _I know, I know, you don't like me anymore,_ ’ he said, pulling her back towards the edge of the mattress and cutting through the gag with a pocket knife. ‘ _I really am sorry I had to do that._ ’

His tone was quiet, more reserved and hesitant. He went on with predictable spiel about her being a means to an end until she was coughing and spluttering for full, unhindered breath without the gag, but it sounded forced. For the sake of it, or perhaps Sendak’s presence in the room behind him.

What followed was a brief questioning, taking advantage of Katie’s inebriated state from the sedative to coerce answers out of her. She admitted to seeing Teludav Tower, but managed to keep her own subterfuge in her coded message to herself.

He felt a twinge when, after verbally promising she wouldn’t be drugged again after she’d been fed and watered, Bogh gagged her again, and ignored her dismayed and angry protests as he carefully injected her with more of the sedative—‘ _Sorry Princess, I know, I lied again,_ ’ he said, covering her up with one of the blankets. ‘ _But Sendak doesn’t want you awake just yet_.’

Bogh crossed to the other side of the room, where Sendak was watching from the doorway. ‘ _Well?_ ’ he asked.

 _‘I’m not sure._ ’

‘ _I thought you said you’d be able to tell if she was lying?_ ’

‘ _It’s kind of hard to judge when she doesn't really know what she’s saying, or understand the questions! She’s just answering them to stop us turning on her again, not to mention scared shitless. I told you she wouldn’t trust me anymore after that stunt you pulled during the call!_ ’

‘ _She’s not here for fun Bogh, she needs to get that through her head, and so do you,_ ’ Sendak grumbled. _‘I know it’s hard; no-one else was undercover as deeply, and she probably reminds you of your own kids, but you need to remember what —_’

‘ _Don't talk about my kids! I’ve told you that before!_ ’ Bogh snapped back. ‘ _I know, okay? If you’d stop breathing down my neck about it, that’d help. Don’t tell me to do something like that again Sendak. I told you I wouldn’t be a part of it!_ ’

‘ _Alright, I’m sorry,_ ’ Sendak said, a reassuring tone that could have been genuine in his voice. ‘ _It’ll be worth it in the end. Just focus on that. This is the hard part, but once he gives us those plans, we can be done with her, and this whole fiasco…_ ’

Regris paused the video, his face tired but contemplative. “With all this new information, I really don’t know what to make of this,” he admitted. “If Bogh is the agent, like we seem to be thinking collectively, then he’s had some mixed results, but if he’s not…”

“Then he still could be an unknown element, just not the way we were thinking,” Zethrid finished. “If I hadn’t seen any other footage, he’d still sound like someone who’s been having doubts, and apparently not recently if Sendak’s reaction is anything to go by; the fact that he still trusts him is also noteworthy. If someone started doubting my terror ideology, I wouldn’t be willing to give them as much responsibility as Bogh has been given.”

“But has he?” Tabor asked. “Sendak only extended what was essentially a baby-sitting job by making Bogh Katie’s keeper,” he reasoned. “Depending on what you think, that’s not exactly a high-pressure job. She’s been restrained, locked up, drugged, blindfolded, and gagged; it’s a miracle she managed to escape later on, or seemed to from her perspective.”

“Arguable; Sendak has only one bargaining chip, so keeping track of Katie is his main priority. Without her, his entire plan falls apart. He wouldn’t have given the job to anyone he had doubts about,” Keith pointed out. “If Bogh hadn’t been faking while she was looking for the key, Katie never would have got out in the first place. If he really wanted to, he could have stopped her. She’s hardly in good physical condition, and he’s twice her size, but he didn’t. He let her escape; there’s no questioning that. The doubt we’re having is why; because he’s an NCD agent, or because he’s had a moral crisis? Or is this exactly where he and Sendak want him to be? Or does he have another agenda?”

He looked at Regris, who had his head leaning back on the base of the sofa, snoring quietly, apparently exhausted, before getting to his feet and yanking a blanket off the sofa back to cover him with. “Are there any more bits of footage that are worth looking at?” he asked Zethrid and Tabor.

“None that I know of,” Tabor said. “Regris was skimming through before he went back to follow up on the leaks, so we haven’t looked through all of it yet.”

Keith sighed, then nodded. “Alright; then until tomorrow, we can sleep and work on that and going through the misinformation again, see if we can find anything we know the source of,” he said. “We’ll start interrogating him tomorrow.”

Zethrid grinned. “Finally, something to bite into.”

Keith wholly concurred.

* * *

Slowly but surely, the dots are getting drawn together ❤︎ Hope you enjoyed the chapter :)


	19. You Haven't Met Me

Keith and his team spent the rest of the night and the next two days going through the footage, analysing every moment Bogh had interacted with Katie, and not just in the footage that had been redirected to his datapad, but the older footage too, and the interactions from the calls.

With him in custody, they had some time to try and prepare for what would be a tough interview. Zethrid and Tabor went in and out of the cell to check small details, inconsequential things, or certain specific events to flesh out their timeline a little more, but Keith wanted to wait on the real interrogation until he was confident that he had a semi-secure picture of what to expect, and how to approach one of the highest ranked Purificationists that had been brought into police custody.

During that time, they also took turns heading back and forth to the station, to maintain the illusion of going in and out of the office to pursue evidence or leads, check in with forensics; Antok had been acting as their go between while he worked on the location data that had been taken from the computers found in Marchanda and Port Thayserix, which had yielded several additional locations for bases to add to their maps.

The raid teams were working on those. It was slow work, getting through each one of the sites on the lists in the area of County Olkaria. So far, Lance had only sent Keith some frustrated messages informing him that while there had been success on some other older, open or even closed Purificationist cases, they had found nothing related to Sendak or Katie.

Still, it was progress. Eliminating a few options narrowed the search field, and helped to keep up the face of the investigation while Keith and his team worked in secret. Kolivan too was helping to maintain the false data boards at the office, kept them up to date on the information from Sendak, and Sam’s progress.

Mr Holt had finished the adaptations his daughter had recommended, and now had a functioning design based on his 3D generated plans; the actual development of a physical prototype had been taken on with much faster progress than they had proceeded with so far. With a trusted guide to follow, Mr Holt had no more delay or problems in construction of his bastardised neutraliser design.

Kolivan had reservations about arranging a drop when there was already doubt that Katie would even be present for it, but they had no other option but to inform Sendak if they wanted to know what the next steps would be. So far there had not been a response, just an update from before Sam sent the message confirming the prototype had been made up to a first stage physical design.

It was a video of Katie, this one of her semi alert as Macidus—judging by her keeper’s frame and gait—pulled off her gag so that she could eat and drink, though it looked like towards the end of the video she had ended up being sick with what little of the food she had eaten. She had been half-conscious and riddled with delirium that showed itself as an instinctive fear of everything around her.

The difference was that this time it hadn’t come to the police, or matt, or even Sam or colleen. It had been sent to the TNNS, with instructions to broadcast the message during the evening, along with a recorded clip of Sendak. In which Sendak spoke of ‘ _accepting the challenge presented by the investigative teams who seek to derail the Fire of Purification’s quest to unveil the fallacies of Bond-centric culture around the world_ ’ before going onto his main message.

‘ _I'm glad that the negotiations are progressing; for Katie’s sake, I hope they continue at this rate. I take no personal glory or gratification from our actions towards her, but neither do many of those who refuse to support change to Bond-centric laws, under which many more people struggle. Perhaps now some authorities may think about the consequences of such restraints before we seek to further educate the public, beyond the suffering of a technology magnate’s daughter, and destruction of a business office. I look forward to a resolution for everyone involved._ ’

The fact that he had sent it to mainstream media was worrying. The use of the footage in a propaganda video was more worrying. He was detaching his involvement with the police and Sam to a broader audience. The use of Katie as an ‘ _example_ ’ further worried them that he was going to use her to send a broader message, probably with her death.

Sendak knew he had public attention. He had an audience and not only could he make a threat to those who rightly considered him a psychopath and were actively supporting the investigation and hoping for Katie’s rescue, but show his success over what he was ‘ _opposing_ ’ and attract more people to the cult in the process.

It sent chills down his spine when the media crews contacted them, asking for advice on what to do (something which spoke volumes, since so far, any speck of information had been snapped up without as much as a by your leave, and gave them a little hope for the public support), and they had been left no other option but to agree to the release of the footage.

Matt had gone into one of the news studios with Romelle and Colleen, and Kolivan had been dragged out with Commander Brodar. Even Commissioner Mozak had got involved in the public management of the case, and given them greater access to the satellites and data held in the NCD and its counterpart, the FCD in hopes of helping them more.

Keith still argued that the easiest way to solve the problem was to simply have the agent in the cult tell them where the fucking base was but when he’d tried to appeal that idea, Mozak refused to tell him, claiming the agent had already made too much progress to be pulled out over the leak that revealing Katie’s location would require. 

So he was as guilty as the cultists in signing her death certificate as far as Keith was concerned, but there was no point in worrying about walls he couldn’t break down.

What worried him the most of all of it was the footage of Katie itself. Sendak’s words didn’t need the implication that Katie was reaching a point where, physically and mentally, she was at the limit of what she could cope with, because it was obvious.

It took some time in the long video they had been sent as a reward for Sam’s progress for her to calm down enough to even let Macidus feed her anything. She flinched away from any approach from him, and couldn’t seem to discern reality thanks to the after effects of the Q. 

She cried, curled up, asked repeatedly about Bogh, mistaking Macidus for him, and only let him give her something to drink when he played along with her assumption. The video was the caffeine substitute that kept him and his team working.

Keith tried to forget about it by focusing on the footage of Bogh; Keith was especially interested in the calls where Bogh had burned the cigarette down her spine, and when Sendak had been preparing to burn her eyes out, to check his reactions, and see how Katie had responded to him.

It still didn’t make understanding his motives any clearer, but they did find some other interesting pieces of information in his interactions with Katie.

Sometime before her escape attempt, she confronted him about lying regarding the cameras in the first base, and he spent some time trying to reassure her that he was the only one who had seen the footage. 

‘ _I don't know what to tell you. There aren’t any cameras here._ ’

‘ _You mean like you said there weren’t back at the last place? I think a few million people are going to disagree with you there._ ’

Katie, quite rightly and obviously didn’t believe him, but the attempt to convince her, especially at the second base, where the footage had been diverted, echoed through the speakers with sincerity that hadn’t been expected at all.

‘ _There aren’t; I can’t prove that to you without showing you the ones we do have, so you’ll just have to take my word for it and trust that even if there are cameras, it’ll just be me watching them. I’ll tell Sendak you think we’re all perverts. I don't think he’ll care either way; he’s never so interested in things like this unless something goes wrong._ ’

‘ _You expect me to just believe you? You're crazy! You just agreed with me! What kind of left handed crap is in your head that makes you think I’d trust you again?_ ’

Katie’s lack of reserve around Bogh was also all too apparent; even into the later stages of her imprisonment, leading up to her escape, she clearly didn’t feel the same threat from Bogh as she did from Sendak. She was sarcastic and snappy with him, and seemed to be comfortable letting her anger out at him. Bogh, in return, let her, with only minimal irritation.

Which was probably deliberate; treating her with a little dignity probably made her more amenable to doing as he told her than Sendak’s use of threats and violence had, but he had to wonder if it was entirely a lie.

‘ _Nothing. It’s up to you. But your options are either that, or piss yourself, sit in your own filth, then maybe catch an infection._ ’

He wasn’t quite as guarded around her as he should be. Another interesting interaction had been when Katie first found the baby-monitor.

Keith had come to the conclusion that Bogh had placed it to keep an eye on her with the fake feed on the cameras potentially being unreliable, and the redirected footage not always accessible to him; whatever his reasons for doing that, he would have needed a way to keep an eye on her.

He also checked up on her periodically, something that Keith suspected Katie had noticed if the scene that played out was anything to go by.

She’d been shuffling around the room, examining it, looking around, found the monitor, then done something a little unusual, hanging herself off the edge of the mattress, like she had fallen off of it, and kicking her water bottle across the room into the pile of cardboard boxes and clutter.

Bogh appeared moments later, looking around the room a little startled. He followed her limited hand gesture towards the boxes, which he shuffled through until he found the water bottle, then sat her up right.

‘ _I’m curious; how exactly were you planning on drinking anything without help, Princess?_ ’ 

‘ _I was going to try and kick the wall till someone showed up, but I dropped it and fell all over the place._ ’

‘ _I’ll say you did; hit your head? Your back?_ ’

Bogh seemed to accept her excuses, handing her the water bottle, holding it for her until she could sort of hold onto it herself, sitting with her as she sipped, and Lahn appeared.

He even answered Katie’s questions about when she would talk to her family again, which seemed to alarm her for some reason, something Bogh noticed as easily as Keith did if his attempt at reassurance was anything to go by, and his explanations of how time had passed around her.

‘ _It’s been a few days since you woke up, and you were out for nearly a week; relax, as long as he’s working hard you’ll be fine and you’ll have a chat with them all without any excitement. Fates, did you drink all of this?_ ’

Bogh was an enigma, in a way. He was giving her far more information that he ought to safely give a hostage. Telling Katie what was going on, and however limitedly, how Sendak planned to use her against her father, was going to give her something to think about, to plan around. More importantly, it would give her confidence; it was exactly the opposite of what he was supposed to be doing.

He even went so far to inquire on her well-being in a way that only people with some sort of familiarity and intimacy would have the luxury of asking. The part that made it stand out was the fact that not only did Katie listen, albeit with some irritation, but she responded, with the same level of honesty and apparent trust that she ought to have dropped.

‘ _What’s wrong?_ ’

‘ _Haven’t you asked me that before? Because it’s still the same answer, just with some fun new extras._ ’

‘ _You’re hilarious; come on, spit it out. I know_ something’s _eating at you._ ’

Her response could be put down to being conditioned, potentially her own relationship with Bogh evolving to the point that she trusted and relied on him despite his actions as a way to protect herself. It wouldn’t be unusual, and no one would be able to fault her for it. But she was clearly employing some subterfuge, and that was what made her response so unusual. 

‘ _I’m just… Bored? Scared? Confused? Take your pick Bogh. You know as well as I do that dad doesn’t make Microtech, and he needs it! I heard him talking about his blueprints to Sendak! I’ve got nothing to do but sit and sleep or think about all the crap that’s going on that I can’t do anything about, and I’ve already slept so much I don’t know what day it is any more, and…_ ’

It sounded too emotional to be a full lie. Bogh let her rant away, no hostility or condescension on his face. If he hadn’t been watching the video, or had any context for the situation, it would have sounded just like a conversation between friends, or at least a figure of relative trust.

It also revealed what might have prompted Katie to risk trying to escape. She had overheard her father struggling to explain his designs, seen the blueprints, and known that there were flaws in them. She had been scared, and rightfully worried given what had followed that her father wouldn’t be able to do what Sendak had asked.

It made watching the footage all the more wrenching; she had picked up on more than Sendak and Bogh had realised, and probably still was. If he could hear her thoughts, like in fantasy stories where soulmates could be telepathic, or talk to each other by writing on their skin, he’d bet she’d be able to tell them a trove of details. 

Unfortunately, Katie hadn’t met her soulmate, and those fantasies were best left to eBooks, animated cartoons and videogames.

She was an intelligent, resourceful, stubborn, impulsive and determined woman, if what he'd seen in the investigation and heard from Matt and Romelle was to be believed. If she had known that there was a chance the designs weren’t going to be functional, or delayed, why wouldn’t she take the chance on an escape when she’d already experienced a taste of the torture Sendak had already promised for exactly such an event?

‘ _So you kicked your water all the way across the room. You’re fed up and frustrated; that’s fair enough, though I don’t know that your mum would appreciate you taking it out on the furniture._ ’

If he’d heard only that response, without knowing anything else, Keith would have taken it as simply being patronising or condescending, trying to wind Katie up, and it was, but there was something else that happened with the words; Katie’s thoughts immediately turned from her concerns and fears, and was more focused on her irritation with him.

‘ _I really think she’ll be willing to let it slide this once._ ’

‘ _That everything off your chest Princess?_ ’

He was distracting her. Going back through other footage showed smaller actions that could almost be called care, in the context, too. 

For the rest of this video particular, he just took back the water bottle, and gagged her again; Keith noted she didn’t put up any resistance to it, but for the infuriated glare when he gave her a mocking pat on the cheek

‘ _Next time you want something again, just knock on the wall, or at least try not to be so loud.’_

It was so obscure. Without having seen the footage, Keith really wouldn’t have thought any of his actions were anything but detached familiarity and concern given only as far as needing a living hostage required. 

_‘I thought you were choking._ ’ 

Had he actually been worried? He’d rushed into the room when Katie fake-screamed and cried into the baby monitor. It was so hard to say one way or the other, but the more he looked at their private interactions in this footage, the more he wondered.

_‘You’ve been good so far, so don’t ruin it; keep it up and Sendak might see to make things more comfortable for you again.’_

That was almost a warning. Dressed up in harsh words and the unfairness of what Katie was being forced to tolerate, but it was still advice to keep her head down, to not go looking for trouble. Bogh hadn’t given her help, but he did seem to be trying to push her mind in certain directions.

That or Keith was just seeing something hopeful because he was sick of all the dead ends and bad news in this case. Keith really couldn’t tell. He’d probably been watching videos and trying to guess what they could mean for too long.

He’d wanted to try and get a clearer picture of what Bogh had said or done around Katie, how he’d treated her, tried to see if there was something worth gleaning from the footage, but all he’d concluded was that he needed to go in and talk to Bogh. 

After a few more hours, Keith knew they couldn’t put it off any longer, and he was stalling because for the first time in a while, he was nervous about interviewing someone. He still spent a few minutes flicking through the content of Bogh’s datapad for anything else, that might perhaps mark his strange relationship with Katie as something more obsessive. 

All he found were copies of the same pictures and videos that had been sent to Matt, the record of one call from his son (again, a file linked to his phone) and eBooks ranging from period soul bond romances to the low-mid quality limited edition KBP Character side stories (the ones that had been released at T-Con announcing the remake) and photos of Ladnok, Vrek and his sisters.

Nothing that immediately jumped up with alarm bells screaming. With a groan Keith got to his feet, mulling it all over as he left the bedroom he’d claimed for a few hours before taking up the tasks before them again.

He just didn’t like walking into a questioning or an interrogation without knowing what kind of mind-set he needed to be in for whoever he was trying to talk with. He didn’t want to go in without a plan on how to approach Bogh, but so far, all he could say with any certainty was that he didn’t really understand the man.

In the first base, they knew from Katie’s own questioning of the man that he had been a supporter of the Purificationist cause for some time; he’d told her he’d been part of the cult long before he was approached about the job as her bodyguard, though his wife––his soulmate––hadn’t had any knowledge of how deep his affiliations had been.

So just what exactly was it that was driving his decision-making process? Because so far, Keith couldn’t make sense of it. Heading down the stairs, he wandered down the hall, looking through the window of the cell at the man.

Tabor had given him some food earlier; the empty bowl had been left neatly on the table, and he was back sitting on the bed, still giving off an impression of unconcern. Keith spent a few moments flexing his fingers where the swiping on his datapad had made them a little bit stiff, cracking his knuckles to release the joints a little.

He would probably be best off just seeing what Bogh would tell them about the details of the kidnapping itself, maybe start with things like why they had singled out Sam, Katie, check any names off against a list of potential targets.

He’d rather just dive right in and ask him ' _Where is Sendak holding Katie Holt prisoner?_ ’ but he wasn’t sure being that direct would be very efficient. Even if he’d had a change of heart, Keith doubted he’d be willing to be that cooperative without having to strike some kind of deal for a lighter sentence.

He scratched his head all over, trying to get his focus back from the mess that hypothesising and thinking always caused after a little too long spent on flying thoughts. There was no point trying to plan this. He always did better going with his gut. He was just taking too many precautions because he knew that Bogh was untapped potential, and didn’t want to lose it by making him clam up.

Heading through to the living room, he waved at Zethrid to get her attention, letting her know he was ready to begin the interrogation. She quickly followed him back down the hall, waiting as Keith punched in the commands for the cell doors.

He watched as a door inside Bogh’s cell slid open, into the interview room, which also had a solid, high security door. He would go inside the door to talk with Bogh once he was seated at the table (a solid, floor bolted one that had a pair of transparent cuffs attached to the table top), and Zethrid would control the locking mechanisms.

An automated generic instruction played to enter the interview room, and they watched as Bogh complied with it, getting up from the bed and making his way through to the table and chair, calmly placing his arms into the open cuffs on the surface. They automatically circled closed around his wrists, and the door lock lit up green, allowing Zethrid to take over the door controls.

“Ready?” she asked.

“No, but we can’t wait any longer; did you get the updated list from Antok?” he asked; after another two raids that morning, he had sent several new possible locations and crossed off the two that yielded failures.

The locations as they stood were Marchanda, Teq, and Everall from within County Olkaria; Balto within Bluveland; Dalterion, and even Javeeno, both cities in Niloofar and his own home county of Yendailian, in the regions of the Karthulian Mountains and the Caylum Desert.

All of them had been mentioned in some way or had been thought to be referenced in the information that had been uncovered so far. Not all of them followed the direction Bogh had been headed, but just because they had seen him heading south didn't mean that had been his final destination, 

Anything that had similar positional benefits and accessibility to the bases in Port Thayserix and the Feyiv Buildings, and was situated in an area where there had been reports of Purificationist activity was on their immediate search list.

If they could get any information on these locations from Bogh, then it would be a good way to find out how much he was willing to confess to, and might help them pin down something more accurate to go by if he yielded anything useful.

“Tabor is going to keep a feed open and cross-check out anything he says; Regris is on the footage checks amongst other things,” Zethrid nodded.

Turning to the door, he waited for it to slide open, and stepped inside, taking the seat on the opposite side of the table from Katie’s former bodyguard.

Bogh eyed him with a calm, genuine quirk of a smile. “DCI Hawkins,” he nodded. “Nice to finally meet you in person, though I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting the delay,” he grunted.

Keith raised an eyebrow at him, then looked down at his notes. “Likewise; how long have been involved with Purificationist activity? Unusual hobby for someone with a claimed soulbond,” he said.

Bogh’s face flickered with wry amusement. “Does it matter?”

“I’m interested,” Keith said, looking up at him. “Humour me.”

He sighed, looking up to the ceiling for a moment. “Not long after the twins were born, I think is when I started looking at the rallies, online forums. You know that Ladnok is estranged from her father, I’m assuming?” he checked.

Keith nodded.

“Her parents separated because her father was abusive. Took years for her mother to get full custody of Ladnok and her brother because of old bond laws. Her father was a vindictive bastard about it; we had to get a court order to keep him away from the kids. Things were alright for a while, then her mother died in a car accident.” Bogh’s expression turned ugly. “He took advantage of bond laws to get access to her mother’s body and prevented Ladnok and her brother from attending the funeral. I’d never been a bond purist, but after that, I could kind of see what the Purificationists were raving about too.”

Keith glanced down at Bogh’s wrists. They were unmarked apart from a peculiar ‘ _V_ ’ shape tattooed onto the skinny triangle of skin between one thumb and index finger. It was just an outline, miniscule enough to go unnoticed without a direct gaze, but it looked familiar. “And how did the cult take your bonded status?” He asked, not letting the pop of recognition in his mind take over. “Kind of hard to hide it if you can’t take the oath of fealty, isn’t it?”

He held the tip of his screen pen in the direction of Bogh’s hands, silently asking Regris to get a zoom in from the cameras and inspect it. ‘ _Wait, wait, wait…_ ’ his friend mumbled over the sound of frantic typing. ‘ _..uh, that’s not a cult symbol… Honestly? It looks like the Mark of The Chosen._ ’

‘ _From KBP? Are you joking?_ ’ Tabor asked. ‘ _This isn’t the time for you two gaming junkies to unite!_ ’

“On the contrary,” Bogh snorted. “I was _exactly_ the kind of person they were looking for. Freshly disillusioned and willing to believe radical action was necessary, and no-one to be the wiser.” He shifted a little. “I went to a few rallies while I was attending training meetings, if they were in the area, met Sendak in Reiphod and he asked me if I was interested in taking a more active role; I agreed to help with anything that didn’t require… direct involvement. I didn't want my family to be involved; for all the flaws in how the system is managed, Ladnok is still my other half, we have kids. Sendak respected that.”

‘ _Sounds legitimate with a cursory check,_ ’ Tabor said. ‘ _It matches what Ladnok told us. At least half his training days were close to Purificationist rallies. I’ll have to do another check on the claims about Ladnok’s parents, but there is a record of a restraining order being given._ ’

Keith took Bogh’s claims with a grain of salt, a little unsure about his openness still, but he didn’t doubt Tabor’s judgement. If he said Bogh was telling the truth, then in this at least he was telling the truth.

The ease of this was not he had been expecting, but it was interesting; the early shock and attention-catching mass gatherings that had been part of the cult’s early growth in the past couple of decades. It meant that Bogh had been part of the cult since it’s very early days, and he would like to dig deeper into the knowledge that might be there, but they had more important things he needed to try and get him to talk about.

“And yet here you are,” Keith said, sitting up a little. “Did you have a comfortable night Mr Torseth?” he asked calmly. “No eBooks to read but aside from boredom you haven’t found the experience too strenuous?”

“Reasonably so, yes,” he said; Bogh’s calmness didn’t falter, and his amusement remained, quirking on the corner of his lips. “Not as subtle as the last woman; you really don’t like holding your punches kid.” 

“I don’t like meandering around the topic; it just wastes everyone's time and energy,” he set his eyes firmly on the man. “Where is Katie?”

Bogh raised an eyebrow. “You’re the first to ask that; sure you don’t mean Sendak?”

“No, the case I was given was priority for was a Kidnapping; the Voltedge bombing will tie in eventually, and I’ll deal with it then, but right now?” Keith said. “As far as I’m concerned, Sendak is the NCD’s problem; _I’m_ looking for Katie Holt, he said, opening up a clip on his datapad that had been one of the last ones he checked over.

"Sure aboutthat? Fom what ive heard your enot doing such a good job."

Keith bit his tongue for a momet, refusing to rise to the bait. "I am," he insisted, moving the clip. "I wasnt sure at first, but now—" He set it on a screen behind beside them, the interior side of another window that showed the inside of the interview room. "—I think you might be willing to tell me.” 

The clip played out as Sendak left the room after making Katie watch Matt and Romelle’s broadcast, trying to trick a confession out of her. Bogh had been left to calm her down after the man had left her halfway towards a panic attack. Bogh on the other hand had sat with her, not getting close when she cringed away from him, and only settling a hand on her shoulder when her sobs became so severe they threatened to make her choke.

‘ _Not so fast; you’ll choke faster than Tsuyoshi bokes on a dragon_.’

“I didn't really think much of this when we started going through that collection of footage you’ve been gathering, not at first,” Keith commented as the clip played. “But I’m pretty familiar with KBP. Big fan, like Katie and your son, but I didn’t realise what you’d said here until I was looking back at Katie telling us about Teludav Tower, and I was watching how you reacted,” he continued, eyes fixed on Bogh. “Tsuyoshi’s travel sickness isn’t a major part of the game play; it was only revealed in one of the side character novels released with the pre-orders from the newest DLC. Not something a passively interested parent would really know of, but you have every single one on your datapad. I dont know how. I'll bet it was hard to keep a strait face when Katie talked to Matt about the different games.”

‘ _No way…_ ’ Tabor croaked.

‘ _Fate be damned, he knew?_ ’ Zethrid hissed as she reached Keith’s conclusion. ‘ _He knew she was passing a message?_ ’

‘ _He was onscreen at the time Sendak got the warning,_ ’ Regris said, his keys clacking. ‘ _He straight up lied when they interrogated her in Port Thayserix too, both times._ ’

Keith ignored the expletive whispers from his team, focusing on the man in front of him. “When did you start changing your mind Bogh?” He asked calmly. “Was it before you carried her out of the building? Or after you ground those cigarette burns into her back?” He asked, unable to keep the disgust from his voice.

Bogh had slumped a little, not tense but not exactly relaxed either. He was listening as Keith’s mind raced back several weeks, to the moment when Katie had sent them a message coded into video game lore and false storylines right in front of Bogh; he hadn’t even flinched.

The books could have belonged to his children but Vrek no longer lived at home, hadn’t for several years, and his sisters spent a lot of time at boarding school. Family data sharing was still possible for cutting expenses, but a tattoo? That was more personal.

“Before that, when Sendak decided to change tactics in getting hold of the neutraliser designs,” Bogh grunted. “The decision was handed down to him, so I knew my reservations about it wouldn’t make a difference, and since I was already involved with Katie and her family, I knew I’d be picked to be part of the group who carried everything out.”

“So why not leave?” Keith asked.

“Sendak might have been understanding about Ladnok, but that other bitch?” Bogh scoffed. “Threats weren’t made, but I wasn’t taking my chances with her. If I had to be involved in something worse than theft, I figured the best option would just be to try and mitigate the damage.”

So Bogh _had_ met senior cultists; Keith kept that in the back of his mind for later questioning to deal with. He needed to focus on his priority. “Still the same job, huh?” he asked.

That got a reaction; Bogh visibly flinched, and broke eye contact for a moment as Keith turned his own reassurances to Katie back at him, a sarcastic mockery of what he was supposed to have been. 

“Almost, not quite, but as close as it could be,” he said, clenching his jaw as he spoke. 

“So, you tried to follow orders as much as you could and... what? Keep her from getting on Sendak’s bad side?” Keith asked. “Draw a picture for me.”

“More or less, though Katie’s never been receptive to being told what to do, so it had mixed results,” he snorted. “First moment she got, she told Sendak to go fuck himself,” he said, closing his eyes, like he was getting a headache. “Then she saw Teludav Tower, and gave Matt that stupid message” he continued. “I smoothed that over as best I could after the move, but Sendak was still suspicious, so he grilled her himself during the conference Matt and Romelle put on; fate must have been following her that day, because she managed to bluff her way through it.”

“If you really were having doubts, why didn’t you tell her?” Keith poked. “Or better yet, help her escape? If you could loop the cameras in Port Thayserix, you could have got her out easy.”

“Because as much as I care about her, I wasn’t quite ready to throw my lot in; I still hoped it would all work out the way it was ‘ _supposed to_ ’.” Bogh said. “Besides, I had my own kids to worry about, and the best defence for both of us was to let her think exactly what I deserved. Sendak couldn’t suspect what she didn’t know.”

Grudgingly, Keith admitted to himself that the ‘ _explanation_ ’ made sense, but he still couldn't bring himself to feel any sympathy for the man. “I’m going to hazard a guess she didn’t think too fondly of you after you tortured her,” he couldn’t help muttering. 

Bogh flinched again.

“After the move to the second base, what changed?” Keith asked quickly, hoping Bogh hadn’t clammed up again.

“I didn’t appreciate being part of that; Sendak gave me an earful for not sticking to the number and I gave him one for making me part of that shit in the first place.” Bogh scratched the side of his chin. “He let slip he wasn’t planning to keep her around any longer than he had to,” he said. “And I know, he’s a terrorist. I’m a terrorist. Why _wouldn’t_ he kill her? Why should I be against being involved that directly? But he told me she wouldn’t be treated with unnecessary cruelty, and I believed it; I wanted a solution to my own doubts and a way for Katie to make it out the other end without any more than a few scratches, and I was convinced it would work.” Bogh shrugged. “I'm probably wrong, but I'm reasonably certain that blind faith in a fantasy is how being radicalised works.”

Keith didn’t comment on that, he just hoped Regris was getting every word on the camera and audio recordings. “So, after she tried to pass her message onto us, you decided to enable an escape attempt more directly?”

“Wasn’t exactly hard,” the man snorted. “Sendak really didn’t care about the cameras, and collective failure of responsibility meant I was the only one who checked them.” he paused and caught Keith’s eye. “I’m sure you’re aware but Sendak is too self-confident. Even with all his planning, after that, he really didn’t think Katie would have the balls to tried anything, and he stopped paying her any more attention than he had to. She had Sendak semi-fooled, but he never took her personality into account. He just thought it was all bravado; Katie’s a terrible liar, and—I cannot stress this more pointedly—infuriatingly stubborn. There was no _way_ she started playing along with him just because she wanted to be untied for a while, or because she was done with trying to escape. She was planning something, so I decided to at least give her the chance of getting out if she decided to go for it.”

She _was_ stubborn; Keith had picked up on that from the limited evidence they had. She’d been kicking and screaming from day one, as proven by Mrs Stirling, who had been able to give them their first pointer thanks to Katie. 

During the first call, she’d already earned an injury because she’d initially refused to talk to her brother in the first phone call they’d had with her. 

She’d tried to slip them information on her location half an hour after being tortured by the man in front of him, someone she had continued, judging by the footage, to have a reluctant trust in. 

She’d bargained with Sendak when he was on the verge of burning her eyes out live on camera.

Stubborn was not the correct word to describe Katie Holt; the word wasn’t impressive or strong enough to match her.

“So, you watched her cut herself free on the real feed and acted so that she thought she’d succeeded in knocking you out,” Keith surmised, hearing a beep of an attempted call in his earpiece, which he had to put aside for the moment. “And tried to point the police towards the take-away by calling _555_ when Sendak caught up to her.”

Bogh nodded again, getting more and more at ease as he continued to talk, like the weight of the world had been lifted from him; he didn’t have the snarky and deadpan attitude he’s displayed in the videos around Katie, and his words were focused. He seemed to be offering full cooperation but for one key variable.

“The guy from the shop?” he asked.

Keith blinked; the question really ought to be more surprising, but the tension in the room had progressed to a sedate kind of calm. One that left Keith feeling a little thrown. The others were equally silent on his earpiece too.

“He survived. Just. His leg is gone, but he’ll live.” Keith said, leaning back and crossing his arms. “This is all fascinating, and helpful, but you still haven’t answered my question; where is she Bogh? For being so concerned for Katie’s welfare, you still haven’t told me where she is.”

Bogh’s expression crumpled, and frustration furrowed the deep lines between his brows and on his forehead. “I haven’t told you because… I don’t know.”

Keith stared at him. “What do you mean, you don’t know?” he demanded. “You just came from the base Sendak is using.”

“Which he will have vacated by now; I told you, Sendak knew about my misgivings, as does his senior,” Bogh said, his frustration audible in his tone. “He ordered me to come here to act as a distraction while he and the others prepared for the next part of Sam’s design progress, and he didn’t tell me where he was going. I have no idea where he’s taken her now. If I’d stayed any longer, I wouldn’t be here to tell you this now.”

Keith tried to process that, ignoring the attempted call beep as it blared again. “Did he tell you to turn yourself in?” he asked. 

“No, I was just supposed to leave the package with the data chip and lead the investigation in the direction of the base I used, then wait for further instructions,” Bogh said. “When he implied he’d kill her once the prototypes were developed to a level he was happy with, I think I’d already decided to turn myself in. He just gave me the opportunity to do it without attracting suspicion.”

Keith looked down at his list of places, the one Antok had sent them earlier that morning, then back at Bogh, tapping his datapad stylus a few times against the screen, trying to determine where to start with the questions.

“You understand what kind of charges you’re facing?” he checked; Bogh’s eyes flicked to his left hand, which froze mid-tap of the pen on the datapad. “Inspector Hyder already dicussed the charges youre facing with you; they include terrorism, GBH, manslaughter, torture, kidnapping, conspiracy to murder, destruction of property; do you really want to keep going without legal counsel?”

“I’m not crazy kid, well, maybe not anymore depending on your perspective, and a lawyer isn’t going to do much for me. I’m here because I figured if I really wanted to make desertion official, I might as well do it properly. Might not help much, but it’s something.”

Keith took in a breath. “Alright,” he said. “As far as you were aware, where was Sendak’s last location?” he asked.

“Teq, east of the Talwarshire border with County Olkaria. There’s a warehouse set alongside an old railway line that was left as a technology monument; it’s been used as a meeting point with senior cultists for a while now.”

‘ _That’s on the board Keith,_ ’ Tabor said, breaking the silence alongside Regris, who was mumbling some commands onto his own earpiece, perhaps calling Kolivan so he could redirect the raid teams. ‘ _It was a rally sight around thirteen years back. A few people who came to protest it died when it took a turn and shrapnel grenades started getting thrown._ ’

There was really only one way to check if any of that was true, and they would have to wait for the teams to investigate the building. In the meantime, if Bogh was willing to supply them with information, he might as well go mining.

Wordlessly—with yet another call beep, which Keith decided he ought to answer if it came again—Keith turned the datapad so that it slid into the gap between the cuffs for Bogh to see more clearly. “Are any of these places that you recognise?” he asked.

Bogh eyes scanned the list; Keith had already highlighted Teq on the map of Terra with the edit tools, and he watched as Bogh did the same on several of the names listed. Turning the pad back around once he was done he looked at the names that Bogh had highlighted.

“Those are some of the locations I’ve heard discussed as the next move, or which strike me as likely,” Bogh said. “I can’t guarantee them though.”

Balto, Everall, Kraydah, Naczella, Dalterion, Puig, and once more, Marchanda itself; the locations were all over the country. County Olkaria, Bluveland, Niloofar… it was a wide search area, but it was somewhere to start.

“How long before Sendak considers time up?” Keith asked; he felt like he had known this before Bogh mentioned the prototypes earlier—he’d suspected that himself—but if Sendak had plans for Katie and how he would kill her, then a time frame might apply.

“I don’t know. He just mentioned being done with her once they had a working model,” Bogh said. “But I can’t imagine him being silent about it.”

That was less than helpful, but at least it confirmed his own suspicions. Keith wracked his brains, trying to decide if he ought to ask anything else, anything a little more sensitive. So far, their use of this safe house had gone unnoticed, and the interview—he felt that was the better term for the discussion, since this really didn’t feel like an interrogation anymore—would be recorded for evidence.

His earpiece bleeped again, and Keith stifled back a growl as he lost his train of thought, answering the call with a push of a button this time. “I don’t have much time; what is it?” he asked, holding a hand up to Bogh, so he knew he wasn’t talking to him.

‘ _Keith._ ’ it was Kolivan’s voice. ‘ _I know you’re interrogating Bogh, but I need you to come back to the station,_ ’ he sighed. ‘ _Sendak just called Colleen; he’s confirmed a drop for the prototype. It’s in seven hours._ ’

Keith looked down at his phone, pulling it from his pocket just in time to catch Kolivan’s forwarded message. It was a photograph of the model Sam had been working on and an address, along with the accompanying comment:

> ‘ _I’m happy to see things have progressed smoothly. The details will be sent later tonight of its destination. Following its reception, if everything is in order, I will inform you and your husband of your daughter’s immediate location._ ’

“Alright,” he said, clearing his throat to get the response out before ending the call, and taking a deep breath before turning back to Bogh with his final question.

“Sendak received a message informing him of the raid teams being dispatched when Katie told us her location,” Keith told him, doing his best to keep his tone even and calm. “Who was it from?”

“Haxus Downes,” Bogh said; Keith immediately heard Regris and Tabor typing away, looking up criminal records, processing data, any digital record of someone named Haxus Downes that they could find. “I haven’t seen him for a while but I know he was involved with monitoring police activity around the cult a few years back.”

That didn’t offer any immediate help but if they could dig up a photo, it would give them something to face match against staff and employee data records.

There was more that Keith wanted to ask more—much more—but because he’d been stalling like an idiot, he’d wasted too much time. Time Bogh had confirmed Katie didn’t have to spare. Reluctantly, Keith locked his datapad and got to his feet.

“Thank you, that’s all we needed to ask for now,” he said, before pausing, a nagging errant thought entering his mind, one he’d always had trouble making sense of. “I just have one more question.”

Bogh looked at him, patient from his seat at the table. 

“Why Katie?” Keith asked. “We know that Sendak was just as interested in Matthew at first, and that he was the better option. The easier choice. Taking Katie took more planning, more preparation, more time, more resources, so why her?”

Bogh’s expression flickered, and finally, he looked guilty. “Because... I told him to," he said. "Matt was the better target, more well known, easier to find off guard— _literally—_ but in the long run, I thought Katie had the better chance if things didn't go as planned.”

Keith frowned. “Why?”

“Because after she picked me for the bodyguard job...” Bogh sighed. “....she told me her words.”

Keith left the room, Bogh’s response echoing uncomfortably in his ears, beating heavily alongside nervous heartbeat as his thoughts turned to the latest demand, and the new deadline looming down over their heads.

* * *

This has been building for a while. 

We still have another few chapters in both sections to get through, and potential 1 or 2 more part(s) to this AU, but it's about time I started working on my next project, and if you have five minutes, I'd ben very interested to know what you think in [this poll](https://forms.gle/9qfBtXK53ocBYRc69).

Hope you enjoyed the chapter ❤︎


	20. This Dusty Barren Land

After another two-hour drive, Keith and his team arrived back at the station. Bogh was under watch by some of the raid team officers that had been guarding the safe house, and while he didn't like leaving him without a member of the taskforce present, they couldn’t continually avoid the station. 

He trusted Alfor’s team enough to leave Bogh in his temporary custody, and so they returned to the station to prepare for the drop.

When Keith reached Kolivan’s office after a brief stop in with his team at the case hub to get settled in again, the Superintendent was shouting into his earpiece.

“—have no _idea_ when; frankly, I’m not even going to bring it up until this case is over with. There’s too much to think about right now, and too much riding on it Mozak! Can’t you just send him a message once it’s over? I doubt he’ll agree, but while we’re on that subject, surely at this point the national interest is enough that it warrants actual assistance instead of platitudes…’

He looked up as Keith side-stepped into the room, silently closing the door behind him.

“...Wonderful. I’m sure the Holts will find that comforting. Sorry, I have to go, _Commissioner_.”

He turned off his earpiece, stared at Keith, then collapsed into his chair. “Tell me you got something from Bogh,” he pleaded. “Because Mozak is still refusing to budge on the idea of using his agent, and at this point, it's plain insane not to.”

“We have some things; he doesn't know where Katie is, but he’s supplied locations, including Sendak's third base, in Teq,” he said, pulling out his laptop and sending some of the files to Kolivan’s computer. 

“You think the information is reliable?” Kolivan asked, opening up the file and pouring his eyes over it. 

“He knew about the message Katie slipped us during the second call, he knew she’d tried to escape, and _let_ her do it,” Keith said. “The footage from Port Thayserix was on his datapad.”

Kolivan looked up at him over his glasses for a moment, then back at the screen. “Is the interrogation audio in here?” he asked. Keith nodded. “What locations?”

“Dalterion, Naczella, Everall, Puig, Kraydah, Marchanda, Balto, and Everall were places he thought might be picked. Bogh claims he wasn’t involved in the discussions directly, so can’t confirm them.”

Kolivan scoffed. “Better than nothing, I suppose,” he grunted reluctantly. 

Keith could only commiserate. He hated the idea of owing any of their information to Bogh, when he had all but admitted he was the _reason_ Katie had been chosen as Sendak’s victim; he’d said her words were why he’d picked her.

Even in a criminal investigation, it was illegal to look up a person’s words if they were a victim, and even with suspects and criminals, it was still illegal to reveal them without their permission, as it was also invading the privacy of their recipient.

Keith couldn't help but wonder what kind of left-handed words had been emblazoned upon Katie’s skin when she turned sixteen. 

He had always thought his own were bad—he had been on a government watch-list for ten, nearly eleven years now thanks to his words for crying out loud—but what could fate have given her to make Bogh think she had a better chance of surviving over her brother?

“Anything else?” Kolivan asked.

Keith made a face, then nodded. “We were dissecting our information network, trying to find out if we could find any patterns regarding the leak,” Keith said. “All of the information involved with failed interventions, or events we didn’t know about came from the NCD, but I _did_ get a name from Bogh on that.”

Kolivan at first looked sick, then rubbed his eyes, like he was getting a migraine. “Which means all of the data Mozak just sent through is compromised,” he muttered. “ _Wonderful_ ; I don’t suppose it was a name we’ve heard before?”

“Not that I can recall,” Keith shrugged. “Haxus Downes?" He checked. Kolivan shook his head, and Keith sighed. “Bogh hasn’t seen him for a while, but claims he was involved in monitoring us before. If he’s a recent recruit to the inner circle, then it’s possible he’s a minor cultist promoted fro the sake of anonymity,” he sighed, leaning against the desk. “We’re working on it.”

The knowledge that their chances of working out where Katie was being held captive based on the current information they had, within the next few hours, was extremely unlikely (if not downright impossible), went unsaid.

There was a bitter kind of air in the station, in knowing that they had reached the limit of their deadline, and were now counting on the unlikeliest of outcomes—that Sendak would see his way to showing the Holts and Katie mercy—becoming a reality. 

“What happened during the call?” he asked, flopping onto the sofa across from Kolivan’s desk.

Kolivan quietly brought him up to speed. When he was done, Keith felt sick. Not from disgust or from being horrified by Sendak’s actions, but the helplessness in the situation. 

“Do you think it’s at all possible we can delay the prototypes? Have Mr Holt look at them and say he’s found an unexpected error?” he asked.

“Do you?” Kolivan asked with a raised eyebrow, and in his silence, Keith had answered his own question.

The call had occurred just before Kolivan had phoned Keith, and Colleen had spoken with Katie.

She had been delirious, drugged most likely, and scared to talk to her own mother even though that was exactly what Sendak had wanted her to do; eventually Colleen had calmed her enough that she had passed on Sendak’s initial message, being the location of the prototype drop. The Statue of Vrig the Great, in front of Teludav Tower. 

The call itself had been sent down to the digital teams for analysis, but so far nothing significant had come back. Katie had only spoken for a few moments, relaying that information before Sendak shut the call off completely, and sent the rest of his instructions in a message.

‘ _The device will be taken in a green protective, reinforced package by Romelle Anderson to the Statue of Vrig the Great in front of Teludav Tower at 07:00am. She will receive further instructions upon arrival. Any tracking bugs or police attempts to intervene upon collection will have unfortunate results for Katie._ ’

To say Matt had been angry at the stipulated arrangement was an understatement. There was still some unspoken tension between him and Kolivan when Romelle was being fitted with a camera and earpiece and some officers set up a satchel case for her to carry the device in. Keith couldn’t really blame him.

Sendak had already tortured his sister, threatened to kill her; now he was throwing his wife—his soulmate—and their unborn child into the same kind of danger by stipulating she be the one to make the drop. 

Romelle on the other hand, was headstrong, confident enough of herself, and if it were any other time, Keith would take her side and argue that this was to their advantage for one reason; Romelle was trained. 

Not as much as a field agent maybe, but she knew more about what to expect and how to react in a situation like this. It was better than Colleen or Matt, who would be nervous, unsure, and unprepared for the potential complications of such an exchange. She was also less well known.

But she was pregnant, far along enough that it showed, slowed her down a little, and that extra fact added all the emotional stress that Sendak needed to put tension and stress in the family when they were already terrified about what was happening to Katie.

It wouldn’t really have mattered if Romelle said she didn’t want to do it; Sendak had stipulated it be her to deliver the package to Teludav Tower, and no matter how hard the taskforce had worked trying to dig up potential locations, they all knew they were not in a position to put pressure on Sendak. 

This drop was their only certain chance left to try and trace him; if Sendak was happy that the prototype worked as he wanted it to on the first go, then he wouldn’t need to contact them again. After this there would be absolutely zero chance of _guaranteeing_ Katie’s survival.

After he had been caught up, Kolivan handed him the information from Commissioner Mozak, and Keith had a passive look through the files that had been sent to him; there were a few place names to add to the map to check the validity of, but his focus was quickly turned to the drop as time passed. 

Agents were already slipping their way into the busy morning rush that swamped Marchanda’s business district around Teludav Tower, and area checks were in place, keeping an eye out on CCTV from the streets and from local buildings to monitor the area, try to anticipate the handover, the arrival of anyone that matched criminal records, significant cult members or the minor ones.

They couldn’t get close, but they could follow whoever Sendak sent to collect the device. Zethrid went down as part of the team that was going to keep an eye on Romelle, and Keith checked in with them both periodically, as well as Antok, Regris and Tabor, hopeful for any updates, a stroke of luck, anything, but there was nothing.

It was too short of a timescale to expect anything really, but he’d been hoping. He wasn’t sure for what, but something. Time ticked on, and before long, the hub was filled with screens watching as Romelle parked her hovercar in one of the nearby carparks, and started making her way along one of the streets towards Teludav Tower.

Regris followed her on the screens, switching quickly between the CCTV from the street cameras as she rounded the corner and came into fountain plaza. The tower was in the background, and Keith couldn’t help but feel the mockery in the location Sendak had chosen for the handover as Romelle approached one of the benches that circled the fountain statue of Vrig the Great.

It was in the centre of the Business district, and not only had Sendak’s used its signals to disrupt his own connections and throw off the digital tracing while he had been Marchanda, it had been a key part of Katie’s first attempt to defy her kidnappers and enable the police towards her rescue. It was a busy public area, and well suited to Sendak’s purposes.

The fountain was in the centre of an isolated square, towered by surrounding office buildings skyscrapers and museums. It was only a street away from the heavily damaged Voltedge offices, about a half hour drive in the traffic, and slightly less by foot. 

The monument itself was large, a hundred feet wide and eighty high, a thick marble base with a heavy gilded bronze sculpture dedicated to the historical king who had been the first to recognise the soulbond in law.

Romelle wandered, waiting, looking, before she finally sat down on the edge of the fountain, still looking around, but more uncertain.

“Can you see anything?” Kolivan asked her over the comms.

‘ _Nothing yet,_ ’ she sighed. ‘ _Just the usual commuters and tourists._ ’

She sat there for some time, and Keith could feel the tension in the room, as they waited. People passed the cameras by for what felt like hours, but was really only a matter of minutes. People carrying laptop cases, a few families leaving one of the few residential buildings in the area, and people taking pictures. Twenty minutes passed and there had been no sightings or indications of the Purificationists.

It had put the whole office on edge. Matt was somewhere close to the scene, in one of their unmarked vans, but Sam and Colleen were watching from the back of the room, and their unease was palpable. Keith could only imagine how his newest friend and KBP Duo’s partner felt watching this drag on.

After what felt like an age, Romelle moved, her hand going to her ear piece as a ringing sound echoed through the task force hub; a phone call.

‘ _Thank you for being so prompt, Mrs Anderson,_ ’ Sendak’s voice said through the speakers. ‘ _You and the rest of the taskforce have been patient; I apologise for the delay in contacting you,_ ’ he said.

‘ _Not exactly inspiring confidence when you can’t even keep to your own deadlines,_ ’ Romelle said—they’d told her to try and ask for proof of life and Kolivan had given her some scripted suggestions to help her out. ‘ _Perhaps you could let me speak to Katie for this negotiation, as a show of good faith._ ’

Sendak chuckled. ‘ _I’m hurt that the task force leaders don’t trust me to keep my word, but I suppose it’s understandable,_ ’ he said. ‘ _I take that Mr Hawkins and Mr Rolstron are listening?_ ’

Romelle was frozen on the screen until Kolivan gave her a muted confirmation, and she nodded. ‘ _They are,_ ’ she said, her tone far too calm and conversational to be anything but false. ‘ _You never said they couldn’t, so we assumed you were expecting that._ ’

Sendak chuckled. ‘ _Indeed, I did not; as long as there is no interference, I see no reason to object but I’m afraid I can’t agree to that._ ’ He said, pausing for a moment. ‘ _Though not to be uncooperative; we all want this to proceed without unexpected eventualities, but I’m afraid Katie is incapable of taking part in our conversation. She’s a little tired today._ ’

“Try again ‘Melle,” Keith urged.

‘ _Then I won't make you disturb her, but I still want proof that she’s alive,_ ’ Romelle pushed. ‘ _I see no reason to give this to you otherwise._ ’

‘ _Hmm, very well, I’ll send something to your superiors; I hope that will that suffice to reassure you?_ ’

‘ _I’ll take it,_ ’ Romelle said reluctantly.

There was a dim scuff of footsteps in the background of the call, some rustling. A metallic snapping sound. Then through the sound of the call there was muffled whimpering, a cry of surprise, scared protest. Katie. From the corner of his eye, Keith watched Colleen and Sam stiffened at the now familiar sound of their daughter in the background of the calls.

‘ _I’m afraid she’s not very alert, else I would be happy to have her be your guide,_ ’ Sendak said as a ping came through on Colleen’s phone. ‘ _But plans don’t always work the way we want them to, I'm afraid._ ’

She quickly handed it over, and after watching, Keith forwarded the video—Sendak flicking a lighter by the ear of the almost unconscious woman, starting her into delirious, scared panic before Macidus blocked her from view and the clip ended—to Romelle.

Keith could almost hear Romelle seething down the phone line as they watched her receive the message; their CCTV was close enough and clear enough that he could see her scowling. Behind him, Regris and Antok were shaking their heads as they attempted yet again to trace the call.

‘ _…What do you want me to do?’_ Romelle sighed, left with no other option but to agree.

‘ _I’d like you to go around to the other side of the fountain,_ ’ Sendak said. ‘ _There’s a box for the fountain electrics. Wait until you think you’re not being watched, then leave the package inside it._ ’

“I called out a neutraliser drone, for surveillance,” Regris said. “It's flying over now.”

They watched with bated breath as she got to her feet, wandering, looking around the edge of the fountain, making a show of admiring the carved marble and large bronze statue atop of it, before she rounded to the opposite side from where she had been sitting.

On the camera that had been fitted into one of Romelle’s shirt buttons, they watched as she reached the electronics box for the fountain, and after a scan around, bent down to open it. There was a gap at the bottom, beneath all the fuses and wires, and Romelle slid the package into the cleared space.

‘ _Thank you, Mrs Anderson,_ ’ Sendak said. ‘ _Now, I’d like you to go around to the statue’s plaque, and have a look into the wishing section. I’ve left a reward for your cooperation. I’d like you to collect it for me_.’

Romelle recognised the inherent alarm in that as quickly as Keith and Kolivan and the surrounding agents did. Romelle made her way around to the sizeable plaque another quarter of the way around the circular fountain, rushing up the flight short marble steps to the mini viewing platform.

From the view of her camera, as she looked down into the deep pool that formed the base and wall of the giant fountain, a large black shape could be seen just below the surface of the water, and a glowing set of numbers: _00:010:59… 00:10:58… 00:10:57… 00:10:56…_

 _‘Romelle!’_ Matt screamed from his own earpiece before someone probably pulled him back from the cameras.

_00:10:47…_

“Zeth, get that thing shut down!” Keith barked desperately down the phone, his blood stopping as he saw the numbers. “It's big enough to take the whole fountain and square if it goes off. Romelle, get yourself as far shot of that thing as you can!”

Romelle was already running, fishing her badge from her pocket as she approached the surrounding tourists, and Zethrid and the other agents converged on the fountain, climbing over the ledge into the water.

“Can we get an alarm out to the local business?” Kolivan asked.

_00:09:01…_

“I’m sending a public notification to the district, and an automated warning to the network, but if there are any spare agents, I’m sending orders to evacuate the buildings!” Antok called out.

“Is anyone available to help Zethrid?” Keith asked. “Regris, where’s that neutraliser drone?”

“I’m flying it in now!”

_00:08:53…_

‘ _Yes sir,_ ’ someone said. There was a gasp as Zethrid surfaced for air. ‘ _She says it seems standard, no pin codes’_ he said, as Zethrid disappeared back beneath the water. 

‘ _Everybody get out of here!_ ’ Romelle roared to the surrounding tourists. ‘ _Police! Get out of here! Run! Now!’_

_00:06:33…_

It was chaos. People immediately bolted at Romelle’s sudden turn in attitude, the rush of agents. There were a few street police in the area who joined in, barking in for calls for back up, helping to urge people away from the area, keep them from approaching the fountain.

“Anderson, you were told to leave, not herd cattle! Get out, now!” Kolivan barked.

‘ _But the package!_ ’ she protested. 

_00:03:05…_

“Romelle, Run!” Keith urged. “We have no choice, we have to let them take it!”

An agent quickly rushed towards her, urging her away from where she’d been trying to head around the fountain; Keith knew it was a diversion. Of course it was a diversion, but they had to deal with the bomb first. They couldn't ignore it—not even for Katie—when it was seconds from detonation right in front of them.

_00:02:57…_

The drone that Antok had called up remotely had arrived, and Zethrid emerged to snatch it from the air before disappearing back under the water; on the cameras, they watched as she continued to fiddle with it beneath the surface, the other agent helping her, before they took the drone, and used the handheld function to surround it with hard insulating foam.

_00:00:32…_

Kicking up towards the surface, she gasped and coughed into her earpiece. ‘ _It’s stopped,_ ’ she called out. ‘ _It’s deactivated. Deactivated,_ ’ she mumbled, clinging to the edge of the wall.

There was a depression of relief throughout the room; it wasn’t safe yet. The bomb could still go off if it had remote activation, but for now, if Zethrid was sure it was deactivated, then it was deactivated.

‘ _W-What about the package?_ ’ Romelle asked, her own breath short. ‘ _Did they take it?_ ’

Keith knew the answer before Zethrid swum round to the opposite side of the fountain, climbing out and drawing their eyes to the open electrics box, and the vacant space inside.

The prototype was gone, and upon vanishing in the chaos, taken Katie Holt’s future with it.

* * *

Sweet summer children, did you think I'd write about Psychopathic Arsonists and not include another bomb scare? 

Sorry for the delays with chapters lately; I had some problems with RSI in my wrist and arm (an unforgivable constant bitch at this point so I'm just rolling with that) thanks to the shitty Scottish weather lately. Also a tooth infection and a stomach bug. At the same time.

It was pretty much as fun as it sounds XD I have antibiotics from the dentist, the bug is gone and it was an unpleasant 48 hours, but I'm back to writing and editing again. 

Working on Sugar too, I promise :)

Hope you enjoyed the chapter ❤︎


	21. No One in The Town

There was a heavy atmosphere in the station after the drop. 

There was also a media frenzy over the incident; reporters and cameras descended on the square, and media footage from people who had fled the scene was all over social media. 

Kolivan had spent the rest of the afternoon dealing with evidence and media updates, before being forced to organise an emergency press conference on the event the next morning. He hadn’t given details, but had confirmed as people rightly suspected from the images of Romelle trying to warn people from the area that it was linked to the Voltedge case, and Katie Holt. 

Keith hadn’t been so shaken by a surprise incident for a while, but when Romelle and Matt made their way into the station, he had felt it when he saw her, and pulled her into a hug, and reassured himself that she—and her baby—were alright.

He couldn't help but thank fate’s mercies Zethrid had been there, and they’d had the foresight to expect Sendak’s dirty tricks, to have other agents who’d had equal training with the bomb squad around to help her, because otherwise… he didn’t want to think about otherwise.

 _“What happens now?”_ Matt had asked hesitantly, after everyone had been reassured, reassured in return and settled after the initial frenzy of the ransom drop.

Keith didn’t know the answer to that question; he told Matt they just needed to wait to hear back from Sendak. This a was prototype after all, not the final product, but the words felt like ash in his mouth as he made his way back down to the taskforce workroom.

Zethrid had been told to go home and rest up—she’d earned it after deactivating a damned bomb in the middle of fountain—but she was right there at the table when he arrived, albeit with a blanket around her shoulders and in her training clothes, hair still damp from her shower in the station gym.

“Don’t you dare tell me to go home and rest; you know we need all the help we can get right now. I’m not going home until we find her, dead or alive,” she insisted.

Keith wanted to argue, but how many times had he done the same thing? He really couldn’t say anything, and she was right; if Sendak was planning to test the device on Katie, then they had another, unknown timer that was already ticking hanging over their heads.

And so, Keith sat down and began to pour over their collection of information. 

Zethrid, Tabor, and Antok were working on their list of locations, reliable new data and double checking the false information, and Regris was sat running the audio from Sendak and Katie’s call with her mother through a few background filters while he chased down CCTV footage of the bomb incident, trying to locate who had taken the prototype from the fountain amidst the chaos. 

Keith focused his attention on the information Kolivan had given him from Commissioner Mozak. It was varied in content, from a few potential sightings of Sendak, Bogh, and Macidus, from a variety of sources. Some of the files were—infuriatingly—completely redacted apart from the sections which either directly mentioned or heavily referenced Katie from what was presumably a classified investigation.

‘ **** ******* ***** *** ** ******** **** *** ********** **.** _Provided he manages to get the neutralisers, there should be no setbacks. **** ********** ***** ******* ******_ ** _._** ***** ****** **** ** ***** *** ******* *** *****. *** **** ***** **** **** *** ****** ** **** *** ***** ** ** ******* ******* ******.** ’

Which only hinted what they already suspected; Sendak was working for a higher power within the cult, and suggested that the reason they had targeted Sam (and thus, Katie) was because the neutralisers were being adapted towards a specific target.

The information was potentially compromised though. Keith wanted to trust that the Commissioner was not the culprit of the leak, but he couldn’t be sure, so had to approach the information with suspicion. 

Still, if the information was genuine, it was worth investigating. They had an assessment of the neutraliser redesign, so applying its function to specific targets might help suggest where it might be used. It could be helpful, but given how random cult targets had been, there were probably just far, far too many.

He was flicking through a collection of files, all information on locations that had been sent to them by Commissioner Mozak from the NCDs own investigations into potential attack sites—Balto, Nemon, Thaldycon, Maura, Neffra, Yadle, and Lyrah—when he finally checked the time and realised they had passed through the entire night again.

It was officially Monday, day seventy of the combined Voltedge-Holt investigations, two days since the drop.

Seventy days since Katie Holt had been kidnapped. There had been longer ones throughout the world, some years long, which had been successfully foiled and the victims returned to their homes and families. Keith tried to tell himself that if there was hope for them, there was hope for Matt’s sister too, but while they had plenty of random details, they were just shy of having enough evidence to make anything useful out of.

Keith could go into detail about Katie’s interactions with her captors, her relationship with Bogh, how she had been treated, what food she had been given, the regularity of the food, the details of how she planned her escape, how she'd coaxed information out of them and priced her limited titbits together.

He could describe how brave, intelligent, and resourceful Katie was, how her stubbornness and determination had kept her going and infuriated Sendak beneath the surface of his calm.

But he sill couldn’t make all that information add up to a location. He needed physical, verbal, and visual clues which they simply didn’t have for wherever Sendak had taken her. 

“Where are we now?” He asked trying not to fall asleep as he drained whatever was left in his mug, hopeful that his team had found more success than he had.

“We’ve finished listing all the locations onto the map” Regris grunted. “You look like you want to cry.” 

“Commissioner Mozak is pointlessly determined to make this harder than it has to be,” Keith sighed, turning to a new page in the file he was currently viewing on his datapad and highlighting the places that they had corresponding information for. “Anything to make on the other locations?”

Zethrid patted him on the shoulder commiserating. “Maybe, ignore him for now, and help us brainstorm,” she said, pointing at the digital displays.

“We’ve got everything Regris found on the computers, tips and hints from the hotline, and everything we already have listed from previous cases,” Tabor said; Keith assumed that was their explanation for Antok. 

“How many altogether?”

“Forty-three,” Antok sighed.

Keith tried not to quake at the monumental task of making informed decisions about the reliability of so many locations, never mind the likelihood of guessing Katie’s location to any single one of the numerous possibilities. “Anything we can match up? Cross off?” he asked. 

“I’d be confident enough to rule out Marchanda, Port Thayserix and the greater Senfama area, Griezian City, and Teq,” Antok said. “There's too much risk incoming back to any of those locations. Marchanda especially. We’d be able to respond quicker, and there’s a chance that Katie would recognise the area—she’s already caused two security incidents for him, not to mention the drop site was here; Sendak isn’t stupid enough to take her anywhere near it. Not when he’s been so pragmatic so far.”

Keith nodded as Tabor pulled up the locations that they had been highlighting. “So far, these are the ones that we’ve collected, from whatever resource,” he explained. “The base at Teq is being investigated by Talwarshire constabulary already, but we do know it was the site of a rally where protesters died. We’re waiting for some reports from the forensics team for any of the content there, but the investigators there have already sent us this...”

Keith looked at the list of places that had been sent to him from Tabor’s datapad and felt sick, and not from too much caffeine, but the magnitude appearing in black and white on the screen: Nalqoud, Javeeno, Reiphod, Balto, Kraydah, Fort Garritt, Wozblay, Zaul, Everall, Ryginarth, Marmora, Pollux, Deeva, Nah-Veer, Thaldycon, Arus, Nemon, Taujeer, Djalg, Erto, Rebulon, Dalterion, Lyrah, Maura, Puig, Naczella, Ebb, Neffra, Crydor, Muldok, Yadle, Vox, Krell, Demos, Jarre, Dradin, and Juno

Thirty-seven places after excluding the bases Sendak had already been tracked to.

On the screen, Antok pulled up a photograph of a red, small sized moving van pulled up alongside an old warehouse beside the remains of the railway lines. 

“This is the van that was used when Katie tried to escape from Port Thayserix,” he said. “There’s no security footage outside, so we can’t see which car was used or get a direction on their next heading, but there was footage inside which showed Sendak carrying Katie out of a side room before they left,” he paused. “The girls in the media centre are still going through the rest of it. Dorma said the initial examinations had cameras in Katie’s cell and the latter end of it was more uh… sensitive.”

Keith didn’t like the sound of that, but nodded. He’d look into it later, if there was time once it had been processed, and only if he needed to. 

The places mentioned were scattered across every inch of Terra, including former attack sites like his own home, but not all of them within driving distance; with that filter applied, there three in eastern Talwarshire, and two in south west County Olkaria: Rebulon, Demos, Vox, Everall and Dalterion.

“So, if they didn’t hit either of those five locations, which is likely, Sendak could have headed every way across the compass except north...” Keith frowned looking at the map. The only thing north of Senfama and Port Thayserix was the Daibazaal Sea. “That’s really all we have?”

Antok nodded, his expression grim. Keith wondered if crying really would make him feel better, but decided against it; he’d just get a headache on top of the exhaustion. Stifling the frustration, he turned his head back to the data.

For hours they continued, taking occasional breaks on the staff room sofa when they got desperate, shifting each other on sleep between looking over and altering the map, trying to rationalise and trying to think about a possible location. 

It took them into the early hours of day seventy-one, when Romelle—who looked a little pale, but determined, poked her head around the door with Matt to wave before she headed upstairs at five am to start preparing with Kolivan for another press conference about the bombing.

With her came Kosmo, who curled up under the table beside him, keeping Keith’s feet warm and mooching for attention as they all tried their best to stay awake, surrounded by cold coffee mugs, paper, and several different maps spread across the screens.

They watched the conference as they worked, trying to stay up to date with everything, so when news came through about an improperly exploded bomb at a primary school in one of Ryginarth’s suburb towns, it was as fresh as it could have been; Kolivan and Romelle quickly left the studio, and Keith was just as rapidly inundated with emails from the raid teams and Ryginarth’s superintendent, Gyrgan Segers while his team worked.

By some miracle, the device had been found by the security guard at the school, who alerted the staff and organised an evacuation before the device could combust. There had been no casualties or even any injuries, and the Raid teams and fire department had quickly arrived from central Ryginarth.

According to the preliminary reports and interview, Hazar Cullen had seen one of the school janitors acting a little unusually on the cameras, and realised it was an intruder—‘ _the janitors here are all women, but this was a guy,_ ’—he explained. He’d left the building and after alerting the police to the intruder, Hazar had investigated the generator rooms and supply facilities, finding the device.

The leader of the local raid teams had sent pictures of the melted contraption already, and while it was hard to say what it was, Keith had no delusions of where it had come from. The news report was already speculating if the case was linked to Katie’s abduction, and they weren’t wrong. Sendak had said he wanted to test the prototype, and he had done just that.

“Alright, Superintendent Segers just more or less confirmed that the attack was Sendak,” He sighed, ending the calls and check-ins hours later, when the sun was on the verge of lowering on the horizon. Kolivan had finally made it back to the station. “The raid team leader is going to call us and forensics is going to get in touch with Illun but that won’t be for a while; can you catch me up again?” he asked. “Which of those locations are ones from our own sources?” 

“Nalquod, Wozblay, Ryginarth, Marmora, Djalg, Rebulon, Dalterion, Muldok and Jarre; the closest ones to Teq are Rebulon, Djalg and Dalterion. Djalg is a twenty-nine hour trip, Rebulon is about twenty, and Dalterion is fifteen,” Tabor repeated almost to himself as he hung his head back over his chair and stared at the ceiling.

Their time had already run out, and now they were working potentially already past their timer for Katie’s safe rescue, and so far, the progress had been… wanting, for lack of a better word. All they had was speculation.

“Djalg and Dalterion are no good” Zethrid said through a yawn. “Dalterion is in county Olkaria, that’s too close to Marchanda, and Djalg is all the way into Yendailian.

“Dalterion was shipping cartel activity though,” Regris pointed out. “Twyla Yama was the cell organiser there before she joined Sendak's; she escaped capture, and the management wasn't unlike what's been found in Port Thayserix. And just like we didn’t find out about _that_ until Keith and Antok went to investigate the base, we didn’t get any information about Dalterion until _after_ one of the shipments exploded at the airport warehouse. It killed ten people and around sixty were injured. It’s an old stronghold, and support for bond law reform is high there.”

“Forget which is likely for now; let’s just make sure we have a clear picture of which locations came from which source,” Keith said quickly, before weariness started another argument. “What about the locations from tips and previous cases?”

“The information from the tips and previous cases—” The ones from Bogh, the source of which they were still keeping hidden from Antok. “—included Balto, Everall, Kraydah, Naczella, Demos, Dalterion, Maura, Puig, Reiphod, and Marchanda,” Regris called out from his computer, turning in his seat and pulling off his headphones. “Several of them crossover with each of the other lists. What did Commissioner Mozak send you?”

“Balto, Nemon, Thaldycon, Maura, Neffra, Lyrah, Yadle” Keith said, closing his eyes again as he prepared his next question. “Zeth, go through the places that we thought had compromised sources.”

Zethrid took a breath. “Javeeno, Reiphod, Balto, Zaul, Pollux, Deeva, Nah-Veer, Thaldycon, Arus, Nemon, Taujeer, Maura, Puig, Ebb, Neffra, Crydor, Yadle, Vox, Krell, Demos, Dradin, and Juno,” she said again.

Keith had lost track of how many times they had gone through this looking for more information, another perspective they had missed, but he forced himself to think, soaking up the reassurance from his dog as Kosmo dozed beneath the table.

“Alright,” he said after taking some time to think himself, comparing the two lists. “Let’s assume that Reiphod, Balto, Naczella, Everall, Nemon, Maura, Puig, Kraydah, Dalterion, Lyrah, Neffra, Yadle, Demos, and Thaldycon are all reliable for now.” he said, sitting up a little straighter. “What do we know about those places?”

“There was an attack at a registry office in Reiphod several months ago,” she paused. “It was one of the one's our information didn’t _quite_ catch, but nobody died; we managed to get a warning out to Yendailian constabulary in time.” she added.

“Balto had a large attack too,” Antok said. “They were celebrating a record number of claimed soulbonds; I think the town had just reached five thousand recognised pairs since registration became legal, they’re on track for a new world record. That was one where we managed to intervene. The bomb still went off, but we got the evacuation notice to the town in time.”

“Kraydah is an obvious one too,” Zethrid said, tapping away on the country-wide board. “It was where the Purificationists announced themselves, first time a bond registration centre was attacked. Forty killed, nineteen injured. They claimed a lot of other places ruled as simple arson attacks prior to the announcement in the video released after that attack.”

“Demos was another,” Regris said, pouring over something intently on his computer before putting his headphones on one ear to listen to something, and still tune into the discussion. “We knew about it, but had the timings off, and the first response teams were a few minutes too late to stop it; seven of the emergency responders died in the second blast, alongside sixteen civilians; we had the wrong date.”

“Thaldycon is significant too; that was the incident with Throk,” Zethrid added. “It brought out the amount of bond-purism based corruption in the city.”

The bond-purist, Throk Curran-Caponello had gone to trial for attempted rape of his soulmate, Farla Flowers; she had already been married upon meeting, and when courts ruled against his attempt to dissolve the marriage he had attacked her at her home, before her husband, arriving home early had intervened. Despite the evidence, he was acquitted. 

A Few weeks later and the judge and jury who acquitted him, along with Throk himself were all killed in a series of shrapnel bomb explosions by the Purificationists, who had claimed that ‘ _Mrs Flowers appalling experience at the hands of her soulmate is the reason the effect of the soulbond is a poison the world over._ ’

“Everall was part of the Bargo Media Scandal; the Purificationists attacked their head office after the discrimination trial,” Antok said. 

Bargo media had been a series of notification services, newspapers and a few broadcasting streams that had been a long supporter of bond-purism, but had come into problems after one of the workers revealed high levels of discrimination the company against its platonically bonded employees. It had gone to trial, and been given large fines, but the CEO Branko Amadi, had avoided any further prosecution for encouraging the discrimination amongst his senior staff. 

He had been the only one who died in the attack, but several of the executives were badly injured.

In Nemon, a serial killer named Knov Boothe had been pulled from death row by her soulmate, Prorok Ferguson, who took advantage of an all but forgotten soulbond law with his legal team to save her from execution. 

A Purificationist named Merla Macneille in Beta Traz, the prison Knov had been sent to after being pulled from death row, had been able to contact the cult, and had poisoned her after the prison transfer. It had been Sendak’s first appearance in the accompanying propaganda video, claiming ‘ _Miss Boothe’s victims were betrayed by the governments, and so we, The Fire of Purification, have done what Terra’s antiquated laws would not._ ’

Maura had come under scrutiny after a security company had been found to be leaking private soulbond data to Drazan, a country for its borderline inhumane soulbond laws; the building had been all but entirely decimated by zaiforge bombs, and over a hundred people had been killed.

Puig hadn’t been attacked, but it had a record number of homelessness and unemployment amongst platonically bonded people, and similar stories were true of Dalterion, Neffra, and Yadle; none of them had been attacked, but had either been warned of the possibility due to high bond-purism in the area, or because of other similar incidents.

Keith frowned over all the details that had popped up beside each location on the map; the country wide one had now been spread across all three boards so that they could see each of the towns. Most of them were scattered, without any obvious attack pattern in the ones that had suffered beneath Purificationist schemes.

“What are the travel times like for a hovercar?” Keith asked after all the details were done. “How do they stand up based on what we know of Katie’s conversation with her mother?”

“The call came through at quarter to eleven on Friday,” She said. “Using the Gridways, it’s 40 hours to Reiphod, 60 hours to Balto, 32 hours to Lyrah, 75 hours to Thaldycon, 10 hours to Everall, 60 hours to Nemon, 25 hours to Maura, 66 hours to Puig, 51 hours to Kraydah, 15 hours to Dalterion, 71 hours to Neffra, 44hours to Yadle, 10 hours to Demos and 36 hours to Naczella.”

“So none of them have a wide search area at all, fantastic,” Tabor snarked, the quickest to surrender to the defeatism brought on by collective exhaustion. 

“We do know that Sendak was still in Teq for the call seven days ago,” Antok said, a quick flit through his datapad. “It’s in the footage from inside the building we were sent by the local constabulary; if he was still travelling, four days ago, he’d been travelling for three days, ish. Doesn’t that mean Thaldycon, Neffra, Puig and Balto are automatically ruled out?”

Keith desperately wanted to agree, but he was an out and proud sceptic. “What about if we assume Sendak goes off grid?” Keith asked. “And I don’t mean just sticking to side roads that aren’t on the gridway network, I mean _completely_ off grid. No manmade magnetisation en-route. How far is it then?”

Zethrid altered her board, copying the placements and changing the paths. “19 hours to Reiphod, 31 hours to Balto, 12 hours to Lyrah, 38 hours to Thaldycon, 4 hours to Everall, 29 hours to Nemon, 16 hours to Maura, 33 hours to Puig, 24 hours to Kraydah, 7 hours to Dalterion, 31 hours to Neffra, 24 hours to Yadle, 6 hours to Demos, and 16 hours to Naczella. Offgrid, those are all well under a three-day trip.”

“Full offgrid driving is insanely difficult outside of a city!” Antok said, shaking his head. “It takes years to learn! The challenge in learning how to utilise natural magnetics alone…” 

Keith was fairly certain they’d made an extra minute of progress, then had ended up back at square one. He could also smell another amicable disagreement starting but didn’t have the energy to intervene anymore. 

Did any of those locations, beyond the things that Zethrid and the others had already mentioned, have any significance to Sendak? He was as dramatic as he was a sadistic psychopath; chances were he was choosing his locations for their poignancy.

He’d been born in Bluve, and his father was Drulian. That made Puig the only place on the list that might have personal significance to him, but it was only speculation.

He’d gone to university in Marchanda. There had been bond-purism protests at the time, and that was where he was thought to have joined the Cult. He’d been seen with other members of the cult with their own sects at those protests before platonic soulbonds had been recognised in Terra. 

Unfortunately, they had unanimously ruled out their home base on the fact that returning again wasn’t really the kind of smart Sendak was using. 

That was about all they knew about him; a few previous addresses (none of which besides Puig matched these locations), some information on his parents, but aside from that, and the few sightings of him and some old employment records, there was nothing significant in his life before he joined the Purificationist cult and helped build it up.

Keith looked at the time on the digital screens displaying the maps, and sighed. They were going in circles, and he hated it. 

“...only lucky bugs like this guy—” Antok jerked a thumb in Keith’s direction. 

Keith kept his eyes closed, not entirely pretending in his ruse of dozing again. 

“—who’ve grown up in the middle of nowhere and drive like that all the time have any real skill and the physical muscle memory required to manage it without any difficulty. The NCD makes a _point_ of recruiting people from Niloofar and Yendailian for precisely that reason. It’d be an infinitely small chance that Sendak or one of his guys could—”

Did he really have to be the adult and interrupt them? 

“—they’re Purificationists Antok!” Zethrid snapped. “If the NCD have thought of that then they probably have too! Sendak himself could be from the southern counties for all we kn—”

He ought to. He _was_ a DCI. He was supposed to be the responsible one.

“—not to interrupt,” Regris said loudly, interrupting, head first in his computer again. “But I just got some data back on Katie’s call with Colleen that might be useful in this part of the discussion.”

Frankly, rather than be a responsible superior, Keith just wanted to sleep, or curl up with his dog, but that wasn’t likely to happen soon, and Regris' declaration had stopped the squabbling.

Reluctantly, he rubbed sleep from his eyes as Kosmo adjusted his head on his knees. “You have something?” he asked hopefully, reaching down and giving his dog some affectionate scratches.

Regris wiggled a hand back and forth in the air. “Maybe? Possibly?” He shrugged. “It depends; how much of a limb are you wanting to go out on?”

“If it sounds plausible, I’ll listen,” Tabor groaned, raising his hand in the air. “Right now, we don’t have _any_ , so all in favour of grabbing arms and legs, raise your hands and say ‘ _aye_ ’. 

Keith, Zethrid and Antok all added their hands. He figured like himself, everyone was too tired to add the ‘ _aye_ ’.

“Go on. Surprise us Regris.”

Regris spun back and forth in his chair lazily. “Well, I can tell you that wherever the call with Colleen was made from, they definitely weren’t moving.”

Keith stared at him and wondered if he ought to point out that information gave them nothing whatsoever, but Regris was as tired as everyone else was, so they waited.

“I know, not a big discovery,” he admitted under the sceptical gazes. “But, it _was_ a throw-away phone, and they don’t block sounds well. I couldn’t hear any engine noises, no background traffic, nothing” he said. “That’s why I think they had stopped, because the phone picked something up in the background...” he said, starting a sound clip playing on the screen.”

‘ _...atie? Sweetheart, are you there? Can you hear me?_ ’

‘ _...’m here,_ ’ Katie’s voice mumbled on the recording, her words a little slurred. ‘ _I —_’

Something wailed, and Katie shrieked in alarm, sobs audible in her fright over the speakers. Zethrid also straightened herself, startled by the additional volume that made the eerie call loud enough to hear, but also more sudden than it needed to be.

‘ _Sweetheart, Katie, listen to the sound of my voi —’ _

“What in fate’s name is that?” she shuddered. 

“I had one of the media guys pull the different voices out of the file to find out,” Regris said after pausing the video and bringing up the audio analyst files, then opening up a separate audio file and playing the screeching again from another sound recording. Clearer, and just as eerie, but definitely much the same. “After some comparisons, I think it’s a Yalmor.”

Keith knew his face was making some kind of expression to his friend’s declaration, he just didn’t know what it was. Or what he was talking about. He guessed an animal? Of some kind? He felt like he'd heard the name somewhere before.

“A… Yalmor?” Zethrid blinked, tiredly processing what Regris had just said. “One of those little things with the trunks and ears?” she opened her mouth a few times, frowning, clearly trying to picture the animal in question, waving her hands beside her head. “Do we… _know_ anything about those?”

“According to a quick search, wild herbivores, about the size of a miniature pony, diurnal or nocturnal depending on location, they usually prefer open moorland or forests,” Tabor said, peering and squinting at his laptop. “Also the national animal.”

Regris nodded. “Indeed, and their call has a ninety-one percent sound match; it’s a bit of a stretch, but based on where their habitat is, Katie could have been in one of those locations when Sendak phoned.”

“Okay, but why are _Yalmors_ significant?” Keith asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “How does that maybe narrow down Katie’s location… f…” His brain stalled on the number. “Five days ago?”

“Four days ago,” Antok corrected, pulling himself to his feet and picking up the cold mugs for refills.

“Four days ago?”

Regris stared at him, then started himself. “Oh, right,” he mumbled. “We can use it as a guide because Yalmors are endangered.”

Keith was still confused, but he knew Regris had an explanation, because he was pulling up his search history.

“Critically endangered, actually,” he corrected, pulling up a picture of one of the animals. “There are around two hundred and thirty-five of them left in the wild, and they are _only_ found in Terra, but their numbers have been declining as a result of deforestation and mining for the last twenty years or so. And from hunting; Drulian Traditional Medicine uses their blood for supposedly finding people their matching words, so the government made protected areas for them in County Olkaria, Bluve, and Talwarshire.”

“So… If there’s a Yalmor in the call, then that means Sendak and Katie had to be passing through one of those areas,” Keith blinked, his brain finally catching up as Antok started depositing fresh coffees around their worktable. “And it means they _are_ travelling completely off grid.”

Keith staggered to his feet closer to the maps, looking at the edited travel times as the smell of fresh caffeine filled the air, like the scent of rejuvenation. “Where are their habitats?” she asked.

“There’s one slap bang in the middle of Talwarshire, between Naczella and Vox,” Antok said. “Another between Lyrah and Griezian City and Ebb in County Olkaria, in Bluve there’s one below Balto, another above Nalquod, and one just along the border with Talwarshire parallel to Senfama.”

Zethrid plotted the locations Antok sent her onto the map and they all looked at the new picture. Keith traced his finger up into the north east, where County Olkaria was, hovering over Griezian City, before settling on Lyrah, then south west, into Talwarshire, and settled it over Naczella.

“I hate this,” Tabor groaned, looking at some maps of the Yalmor sanctuaries, and he brought them up onto one of the spare screens. They were over a hundred miles across in a couple of places. “He’s tying up his loose ends already,” he muttered. “And if he’s decided to dump her body anywhere out there, we are never going to find it.” 

Tabor had a point; both the habitats were moorland areas that were known for being places where people had died both from just getting lost, and from previous murders that had never been fully solved, because even the killers themselves couldn’t remember where they’d buried their victims. 

But practically speaking, Keith couldn’t agree with him. Sendak was methodical, and had an agenda. Dumping Katie Holt’s body in the middle of nowhere didn’t fit. He had gone to the trouble of broadcasting his last message to her family, and had forced them to do his advertisements for the cult. When—not if—he decided to kill her, it wouldn’t be by dumping her in an unknown ditch, it would be public, prominent, and obvious.

“He couldn’t kill her until he had the Prototypes,” he mumbled. “And they didn't work; he still needs her,” he sighed. It was the only sting of hope they had left. If Sendak was under pressure for the protoype from senior cultists then he the failed explosion in Ryginarth meant he still needed Kati alive.

It was a think thread of fate to cling to, but it was the only one they had; looking at the map and focusing on the path lines Zethrid had added to their debate, Keith processed them all, reasoning out what limited information they had. 

“Do we know anything about Lyrah?” Antok asked. “Have the Purificationists ever targeted it?”

“It’s where the original documents recognising soul-bond law and platonic soul-bonds were signed,” Regris said. “Police there have been on high-alert for a while; support for bond-purism is high there too.”

“How far is it from Lyrah to Teq? On and Off Grid?” Keith asked.

“Thirty-two and twelve,” Zethrid said. 

“And Naczella?”

“Naczella is reasonably open minded, but still had a grenade attack at a bond-purism church” Tabor mused. “No deaths, a couple of injuries. It was missed completely, around the same time as the Kraydah attack, by a local who’d been radicalised by online darknet streams, but it wasn’t linked to the cult. Not a blip since.”

“About the same distance to Teq too, give or take,” Zethrid added.

“Each of those were locations on the lists we drew up from our own sources and from Commissioner Mozak,” Regris said. “One on each, but not the other. Neither of them were on Zethrid’s list.”

So one had been on Mozak’s list, and the other Bogh’s; it was a choice between a Purificationist and compromised NCD information? Was that really their best call on a possible location here?

“Keith!”

They all jumped when Kolivan’s voice cut through the exhausted concentration in the room; all heads snapped towards the Superintendent as he rushed into the doorway. 

“Upstairs.” 

He gave no other explanation, but the haste in the older man as he left the doorway betrayed a severity that couldn’t mean anything good; Keith and his team rushed up the stairs behind him, into the buzzing control hub for the investigation.

People were running around all over the place and Regris and Antok rushed to join the media team at one of the computers; Sam was sitting down, in front of another screen, one flashing with an unknown call icon.

The computer flashed to life after Sam hit the screen to answer, and the picture of an old, brick room with old wooden floorboards and column supports greeted them. Katie was hanging from the restraints binding her to one; even seated on the floor she was so exhausted they were still holding her up more than her own effort could.

The blindfold had been removed from around her eyes, and one of them, along with her nose and lip, had the stains and smears of blood and bruising, hints of being hit with something (or more likely by someone) very recently. She was unfocused but for the terrified muffled sobs they could hear as she tried to tug herself free. 

Sendak was nowhere to be found, and at the bottom of the screen was a timer, currently unset. Sitting on the floor was one of the prototypes. Keith felt cold, because even unset the timer only meant one thing; they had run out of time.

“Katie?” Sam called out, panic in his voice as the set-up surrounding his daughter clearly didn’t go over his head. “Katie? Katie, sweetheart, can you hear me?”

The woman blinked, looking around, but not directly at them. She could definitely hear them, but her head slumped as she tried to turn it, managing only a few weak muffled noises.

“Hello? Is someone there! Please!” Sam called out again. “What’s going on? What’s happening?”

Sam continued to call out for over twenty minutes, during which time Katie herself seemed to become a little more alert. The tension in the room was cloying when—finally—Keith’s phone jumped in his pocket, and he quickly tapped on his earpiece, opening the call out to the speakers through the room.

“Hello?” 

‘ _DCI Hawkins,_ ’ Sendak’s voice echoed through the room. ‘ _I’m afraid that after testing Mr Holt’s device, the results are far less than what I was expecting. He has failed my request, and so I will be fulfilling the promises I made to him during our first meeting._ ’

“No!” Sam cried out. “No, please there has to be a mistake!”

Keith’s mind flashed back to the first threats Sendak had made, when he’d dangled Katie by her neck in front of the camera—‘ _Fail my request, and I will take control of your home screens so that you can watch as I douse her in komar fluid and let her burn until she’s nothing but a charred, barbequed carcass to be left on your doorstep_ ’—to ensure his point was clear, and his stomach churned, but he kept the worry out of his voice as best as he could.

“Only if you don’t let him fix whatever problem has occurred,” Keith said. “Mr Holt can still fix whatever issues have come up with the full design,” he reasoned, hoping he could make him pause. “It’s a prototype. Don’t first physical designs normally have problems?”

‘ _Indeed, it’s as you say; I expected some issues, and was initially inclined to do as you suggest, but I fear Mr Holt will not be able to do so._ ’

“You don’t know that,” Keith reasoned. “Send us the data on what happened, please; everyone can still get what they want out of this!”

There was a click as the call ended, and Keith swore. “Tell me someone traced that,” he pleaded.

“Nothing,” Regris said; he looked sick, pale. “Throw-away phone.”

There was a tense silence, until Katie’s screaming picked up on the video feed; attention snapped back to the video, they could see Sendak on the screen, a canister in hand, which he was pouting over Katie, and around the floor. The contents leaked under the device, which sat just out of reach of her legs.

‘ _My apologies; the signal was very uncooperative,_ ’ Sendak said, once he’d emptied the canister, turning back towards the screen, reconnecting the call. ‘ _In response to your question, I’m afraid I cannot. If I thought it was possible I would, but Katie told me her first day here that Mr Holt was unable to fulfil my request, and I’m afraid the magnitude of the issues was a little too much to be simple error by my reckoning, and far beyond his scope._ ’

Keith felt nothing but anger and panic beneath his calm; the runny sludge that clung to Katie’s skin was komar fluid. It was not just flammable, but slightly corrosive. It wasn’t burning her yet, it would take a couple of hours at least to do more than itch and irritate her skin, but she had to know what it was, what it could do, and her screams were a unpleasant, chilling chorus to Sendak’s calm 

“Please, don’t do this! Please, I did everything the way you asked. It should have worked!” Sam begged. “I-I’ll do whatever you need to fix it, please, just stop! Please don’t hurt her

‘ _Indeed, you did Mr Holt, as much as you were able, but the faults were very suspect, and; given how much input your daughter needed to give you on the project, I knew you would need her assistance to fix the designs,_ ’ he said, thick gloved hand slipping under Katie’s chin and forcing her to look up at him. ‘ _So Katie and I had a little chat again, didn’t we?_ ’

“I—I don’t understand! They should have worked! What do you mean by that?” Sam asked, his voice shaking.

Tears were streaming down Katie’s, Sam’s face; Keith felt close to doing the same from all the could he could do right now; he felt sick, he felt angry. Infuriated by the way Sendak was jumping back and forth, their inability to keep up with him. 

Keith realised he was panicking, but everything was unravelling around them, and there was nothing he could do. They were failing, miserably, and unless some kind of miracle happened soon, or fate finally started taking Katie’s side in this, she was going to die.

‘ _Then allow me to clarify for you Mr Holt,_ ’ Sendak said calmly, his hand digging through Katie’s short hair to hold her face up to the camera. ‘ _Your daughter sabotaged the designs, right beneath our noses._ ’

Keith was stunned; Katie had done what? _How?_ How long had she been planning to...? _What?_

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and not just because it was from Sendak; he actually believed him right now. What he couldn’t believe was that Katie, after everything she had been through, still had the determination and mental fortitude to try and stop Sendak from getting his way.

“No! Please, let her go! She hasn’t done anything wrong! Please, she doesn’t deserve this! It’s not her fault! That’s impossible! Katie wouldn’t have done something like that, she knows how important—”

‘ _Katie, tell your father for me; did you interfere with his designs?_ ’ Sendak asked the woman as Keith caught Regris and Antok trying to get his attention; Keith watched only for a moment as she cringed, then reluctantly nodded before heading across the room, Kolivan taking his place beside Sam. ‘ _You see? Katie admits it herself. I assure you Mr Holt, no lies are being spoken._ ’

“What is it?” Keith asked.

“It’s the broadcast!” Regris hissed. “It's public.”

“What?” Keith couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This was just going from bad to worse faster than a canoe swept over shit creek falls without a paddle. 

“He’s broadcasting it, it's already been picked up by TNNS and the other news channels,” Regris said. “We’re trying to shut it down; if we can isolate it we might be able to find a location.”

Keith stifled a curse under his breath, trying to think. “Antok, I want you and Tabor to take one of the Raid teams and go out to Lyrah; Regris, call Alfor’s unit and tell them to start getting ready to fly over to Naczella; You, Zethrid and I are going with them,” he said finally.

“What? You want to leave the station?” Zethrid started. “But we don’t know if those are—”

“They're all we have, the media teams can handle the broadcast; if need be, we can change route if they manage to trace it,” Keith said. “We can’t investigate every single location on that map, we don’t even have anything below a city name as a location,” he insisted. “Naczella and Lyrah are the best locations we came up with, and are both small enough villages that we can search all the buildings if we dispatch the teams as soon as we can—” If Sendak even gave them the chance to do so, and didn’t blow Katie up in the next five minutes or so. “—but if we don’t investigate them, we have nothing.”

“Keith… are you really sure about this?” Even Regris sounded unsure, and in the back of his head, Keith couldn’t blame him; he would have been too, but they didn’t have the time to chit chat about it anymore. Doing something was still better than doing nothing.

“Have you heard back from your agent?” he asked Antok bluntly.

The man started, looking around in shock, then shook his head. “N-Nothing,” he said. “I haven't heard from him for over a week!”

That was how long it had been since Bogh had been taken into custody

“Then tell the raid teams to search those villages,” he repeated.

"Keith—"

“That’s an _order_.”

Regris immediately turned back to his computer, a little startled, but no longer dubious. “Yes sir,” he replied, though there was an edge of nervousness in his voice that told Keith he would have to apologise later.

Catching back up with the exchange with Sam and Sendak, Keith could feel his mind reeling from Katie’s admission; why would she have chosen to do something so dangerous when she knew it likely wouldn’t be in her best interests if discovered, and wasn’t going to help the investigative teams? 

The woman wasn’t even twenty-two yet, and she had been days away from a master’s degree. She was nowhere near stupid enough to do something like that just to spite Sendak. He could only assume she had been desperate, or had known something they didn’t, and decided to act of her own accord.

‘ _I can’t say I’m surprised really,_ ’ Sendak mused, dragging his attention back to the call. ‘ _Your daughter is fiercely determined and independent. Dare I say, it’s admirable how much her interference has thrown off my schedule; I can’t say I know how or why, but her sabotage caused the prototype to incinerate itself._ ’

Well that certainly explained why, if Sendak had been testing the prototype at the school in Ryginarth, the device had failed, and how the evacuation had even been possible. If it had worked as intended, there wouldn’t have been an investigation or evacuation to be had.

“Then just give me another chance! I won’t let her help, I’ll find someone else!” Sam begged, “Please! Please don’t do this!”

‘ _I’m afraid I no longer have the time for that, and if I didn’t live up to expectations I've earned myself, how can I be taken seriously?_ ’ he asked, picking up the prototype and pressing a few buttons on the interface. ‘ _Katie has sabotaged my plans countless times, so it’s only to be expected that she pays for her interference. Once the device detonates, it won’t explode but it will ignite the komar fluid and —'_

Something flashed on the device, and the corner of the screen. A number. A Timer.

 _00:00:30:00_

_“ —Katie will be burned alive, just as I told you would be if you failed. _’

Katie screamed in the background of the call, yanking at the ropes around her arms, her wrists behind the column, trying to free herself as he continued to set up the device.

‘ _Keith, Alfor and Lance are here; the hoverpods are ready to go!_ ’ Regris said in his earpiece.

The numbers on the timer flickered again.

_00:01:00:00_

“Please, stop this!” Sam begged again. “Please let her go! Please! I thought the designs were functional, else I wouldn’t have sent them to you! I’ve tried to do what you asked, you know that! please! Please, just have some mercy!”

“Go,” Kolivan urged, patting him on the shoulder. “I’ll handle things here.”

_00:02:00:00_

Sendak listened, his eyes directed toward the camera. ‘ _You make a reasonable point Mr Holt_ ,’ he conceded. ‘ _And I’m not entirely unreasonable, even as disappointed as I am now._ ’ 

He looked towards Katie and for a moment, then back to the device. 

_00:02:30:00_

Keith bolted for the doorway, Regris and Zethrid close behind him, along with Tabor and Antok. Keith hoped he was wrong to doubt, but he couldn’t take any chances so he had deliberately given Antok the location that had been disclosed by Mozak.

Keith still thought their best candidate for the unknown agent was sitting in a secure safe house on the other side of the city, and if not, he trusted Bogh’s internal doubts more than the chain of command within the NCD and the police.

‘ _I can’t blame Katie for trying to sabotage the plans I demanded —she was convinced I was going to kill her after receiving the prototypes—and she’s impressed me,’ _ Sendak continued in his earpiece as they raced along the hallways. ‘ _Nor can I blame you for being unable to control her decisions from a distance, so I’m going to give you both a fair chance..._ ’

If there was any way that Antok knew or was part of the leak in information, then he couldn't know a thing about him. That meant giving him the location that Keith felt was least likely to have any chance of being right.

‘ _...Katie is convinced that her soulmate is going to come to her rescue,_ ’ Sendak said, a sneer of ridicule in his voice. ‘ _That her words are going to save her, so I’m going to set this timer for three hours; if her soulmate shows up to her rescue before then I’ll willingly turn myself in…_ ’

The scorn in his words was condescending enough to make Keith feel sick as they rushed up to the top of the building where the hoverpods and raid teams were getting ready to leave. 

‘ _...and if not, Katie will be all the example I need to prove to everyone watching that soul bonds are meaningless._ ’

He could feel the unease through speakers as they all listened, running tense along up the stairs as they all tried to work out what Sendak could mean in the two seconds between the last statement and his next; whatever solution he proposed, everyone knew it was to be anything but good.

Throwing open the doors to the take-off zone, Keith, Zethrid, and Regris rushed towards one, and Tabor and Antok toward the other. Alfor handed them all safety vests after they had hauled themselves into the pod, which they pulled on frantically. Keith was halfway through fastening his into place when a familiar bark caught his ears.

_00:03:00:00_

Darting through the doors they had just left to close behind them, his dog burst onto the platform, completely ignoring the shouts of the poor intern running after him.

“Kosmo?!” Keith choked as the engine start up warning began to flare; the door began to close, and the dog leapt through the gap, skidding down at his feet, looking up with his tongue hanging out in search of praise.

Keith stared at his dog in shock and confusion— _Now?_ Of _all_ times? _Really?_ —then groaned in frustration; grabbing hold of his fur, Keith kept him from getting any more in the way as the door closed, and the hoverpod engines flared to life; whirring beneath them the pod lifted into the air seconds after his additional companion had them

‘ _...Goodbye Mr Holt, DCI Hawkins, I do hope fate is on your side._ ’

* * *

Never forget your ' _teleporting_ ' dog when going to battle terrorists. Two more chapters for Keith's POV ❤︎

For those of you who have seen any posts, the second Kidgezine, **[Kaleidoscope: A Fantasy Kidge Zine](https://kidgezine.tumblr.com/post/628338186505060352/kidgezine-after-a-rough-year-it-is-complete)** is now available for free download! 

I also [**have a poll still open**](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd93W-yhwCikgYqI5sAGvI2pwTVoAvLkp-NCIYHNqH67rHBsg/viewform) vis-a-vis my next Kidge project. Just looking for a bit of information on what people might be interested in, so if you haven't had a chance to look at that, please consider it—it won't even take up ten minutes :)

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! 


	22. To The God That You've Always Denied

The hover pod shot through the air, pulling Keith, Regris and Zethrid on a path to Naczella that while faster than anything that could have been achieved in a hovercar or on his bike, still wasn’t as fast as he would have liked.

Naczella was still over an hour away, and while Keith knew from hearing it on his earpiece after the call with Sendak had disconnected that Kolivan had instructed all constabularies to investigate any Purificationist activity suspected or called in within the separate zones across Terra within the next few hours, there was still little reassurance in knowing they were stretching themselves to try and cover every stone.

Regris had a laptop out, staying up-to-date with the livestream of the camera, talking to the media teams; so far, they hadn’t managed to shut down the stream that Sendak had set up onto a web address with known anti-soulbond affiliations, but Keith couldnt bring himself to watch it.

The timer was being streamed for public viewing all over, and had already been picked up by the news, though it had gone off for a while after he had cut their initial feed. Then it had started again after a propaganda video, showing Katie clearly alone. A quick check already told him people were talking about the prototype, guessing what Sam had been told to pay for his daughter’s freedom, discussing what Sendak meant by Katie’s words, the prototype itself, the interactions that had been made for the whole world to see.

The only good thing that came from the stream was that they could see that Katie was still awake and breathing. Kolivan gave them updates periodically, and despite her obvious fear, informed them she was still trying to free herself, shuffling around the post she’d been tied to, trying to find a weakness in her restraints, screaming as loudly as she could.

Keith hardly heard any of it, trying to think of something he could call a plan for when they reached Naczella. Zethrid was watching it to keep track anyway. He felt like he was running around blindly, making decisions for the sake of them. There was no way to know if they were even going in the right direction yet.

Naczella felt like the most likely, but he was basing that judgement on the words of a criminal going through a moral and existential crisis, and the limited current evidence they had. Even if Bogh had been the Agent, the information was still potentially compromised. He hoped this wasn't in vain. That it would at least put them in the right direction, but how were they supposed to know until they heard back from Kolivan or their feet hit the ground again?

They had already been flying for over an hour; if one of the other teams or one of the other constabularies didn’t pick something up soon, Keith couldn’t help but wonder what chance Katie had. In the back of his mind, he made a silent plea that fate was on her side, that whatever her words were—when Zethrid told him there were pictures of them being shown during the broadcast, he’d felt sick, and refused to look—they gave Katie the chance Sendak claimed she’d been hoping for.

The scenery of the Talwarshire moors shot past them far below, broken up only by cloud cover as the pod made its way through rain and cloudbank, lowering and rising as it reacted to much stronger magnetisation controls. Even at however many miles an hour they were flying at, Keith didn't know if they were moving fast enough.

“Do you think Antok is involved?” Zethrid asked from the seat beside him; her expression was troubled, the uncertainty they all felt evident upon it.

Keith scratched Kosmo’s ears absently, urging the dog to sit between his legs where he could keep hold of him before the pod made its way back to ground. “I hope not,” he sighed. “But better safe than sorry. I'm more inclined to trust Bogh than anything that comes from the NCD right now,” he said, wondering what the department psychologist was going to make all of his decision making when the case review arrived. “As for the VPN, I wouldn't be surprised if the FCD have a similar problem with their recruitment system. How much do you want to bet there are purificationist agents there too?”

“Oh, I don't need to bet,” Regris muttered. “If there isn't at least one plant in each of the lines of communication between all three departments, I’m putting in my notice.”

Zethrid leaned back in her seat, holding her hand out to Kosmo after he’d replaced himself, allowing him to sniff her fingers. “I really wish I didn’t either, but after watching all the footage and the interviews back, it’s hard not to,” she sighed. “What about the agent?”

“If it’s Bogh, he’s done now, and if not, he can go to jail with the rest of the people in that cell for all I care,” Keith grumbled. “Honestly, I’m more interested in how she did it,” he said instead.

“She…? You mean Katie? How did she what?” Zethrid blinked.

“Sabotaged the plans,” he said, watching the ground passing beneath them. “How much mental fortitude would it have taken her?” he asked. “Think about it; she’d already been tortured, and after her last escape Sendak seems to have been drugging her more often than not. Her perception is limited. You could put it down to that—she made a bad judgement call without full perception—but she couldn’t have,” he reasoned. “Sendak needed her to be moderately lucid to help Sam, so she had to realise what she was doing, and she’d still have to understand what she was doing to make it fault properly.”

Keith knew that without the agent to prevent the destruction of the former bases, they wouldn’t have access to half the information they currently had, but couldn’t bring himself to have any appreciation for it when their chance to end all this had been right there from day one.

So far, Katie had done more to enable and facilitate her rescue than any one of them had, and he couldn’t shake his admiration for that.

“Considering the difficulties Mr Holt had just _developing_ the prototype to the point that Katie could intervene, I don’t think it would have been hard to get the flaws past him,” Zethrid muttered.

“He wouldn’t have been _that_ stupid,” Regris mumbled, focus still on his laptop as the pod lurched around a little. “He’s made his fortune off his own inventions, and he was able to get as far as he did with his own knowledge and research in a field that wasn't his specialty. Katie just gave it the fine-tuning it needed from a specialist. She has a better understanding of how the tech works, but he’s still a genius of his own merit, and checked the designs before the drop. If the flaws were not subtle, he would have noticed.”

“Not to mention she had to lie to him to do it,” Keith mumbled. “If he hadn’t forced her to, I doubt she would have told Sam that Sendak was telling the truth,” he reasoned. “She’s already proven that she’s not going to help him so the only reason to admit it is personal guilt.”

Zethrid gave him an unusual look, like she couldn’t quite work out how he was jumping over bridges to reach the conclusions he was getting. Keith couldn’t blame her. He couldn’t either, and was thankfully spared from any more ruminations as his phone began to bleep with Kolivan’s ringtone.

“That or I’m just overthinking because of the lack of sleep,” he sighed, activating his long-distance comms on his helmet. “Please tell me you’ve isolated the call, know where she is, and are calling to give us new coordinates because we’re in range of Sendak’s possible location.”

‘ _We think your team is heading in the right direction; it’s still a toss-up between Nemon, Kraydah, Muldok, and Naczella but the signal on the livestream isn’t coming from Lyrah or any of the northern locations we have listed._ ’

“You think?” Keith asked. “You sound uncertain.”

‘ _No-one can say for sure,_ ’ Kolivan grumbled irritably. ‘ _Based on the information we have, I don’t see the point in telling you to change course, but the livestream signal keeps flickering and jumping every time the media team manages to catch hold of it for more than a few seconds at a time so… they don’t know._ ’ 

“The signal isn’t _going_ anywhere Kolivan,” Regris mumbled, the sound of a man who had long since tired or repeating the same explanation.

Kolivan sounded like how Keith felt when faced with Regris’s long, patient descriptions of anything beyond basic interface tech, but Keith thought about the superintendent’s words. On his datapad, as Kolivan and Regris argued. Flicking through the data on Naczella and Lyrah, Keith looked again at the two of them.

Lyrah was where the first soul-bond laws had been signed. Naczella had very little in the way of cult activity history and significance. There was information supplied about an attack that had been there, but the data was false. There was nothing significant about the date, so Keith went back into the file on Lyrah, looking at the file data.

It had been sent to them by Commissioner Mozak from the NCD, but it wasn’t the original file. At least, not the one he currently had. Maybe there was something in the first copy. Something from closer to the incident they had missed?

“...like I said, it’s just not a very accurate signal,” Regris corrected from Zethrid’s opposite side. “The room looks older in the stream footage, stone, which might be a clue in and of itself if I can cross-reference the historical buildings in the areas you’ve mentioned, but I’m just getting in range the network access point for Naczella itself, and there are dozens of old buildings around…”

Keith jerked his head back to the conversation with Kolivan; he was exhausted and getting distracted. He needed to stay focused. He wasn’t going to help anything if he didn’t stay awake, and mildly wondered if the raid team operatives had any caffeine shots in their on-board storage somewhere.

“...Though I’m kind of surprised we can even catch the signal at all; I don’t think there’s the same security barriers as before,” Regris frowned as he continued his explanation. “Because even if it keeps getting lost, we are catching the signal this time, even if it’s only briefly. It's like the VPN isn’t working properly…”

Keith let all that process, trying to keep his anxiety and anger under control. “Alright,” he said after a breath. “Anything else? Is there anything else we can pick up from the stream footage? Anything else we need to know?” he asked, hoping he wasn’t snapping. He ought to have tried to sleep but couldn’t face it right now. Not when their deadline was ticking away every second.

‘ _There’s not much else to go on with the stream; if we can get over the signal problems then I’d like to try and establish contact with Katie through the computer camera and microphone —I’ve been told that might be possible—but Mr Holt has been running over the designs again and he thinks he’s worked out how Katie altered them,_’ Kolivan said. ‘ _I’ll save the explanation for later on, but her work around on the trigger mechanism gives us some more time.’_

“More time? It won’t explode?” Keith asked, hope singing in his chest. Had Katie thought of that too?

‘ _It might not do so immediately; her changes to the design could send things two ways depending on her luck’ Kolivan said. ‘Her stop gap will activate as the counter he’s set runs out, and start a second timer. Then the device will process the components using the original neutraliser technology just enough to keep the combustibles from reacting, but doing will may cause the device itself to overheat if it's not stopped quickly enough —that’s why Sendak doused her in Komar fluid. The heat will ignite it if that happens._’

"And the second way?"

‘ _The device can't really handle the combustibles for long, they’re highly combustible just by themselves so any one of them could hit capacity and explode individually. It depends on which happens first._ ’

“How long will it take?” Keith asked.

‘ _Half an hour,’_ Kolivan said. ‘ _Maybe longer, maybe less. Half an hour is the best guess for how long the device can keep the components separate, before it overheats but they could go off by themselves before that, so once the timer starts going down..._ ’

The bomb could go off at any time.

There was a crackle over the comms, temporarily muting Kolivan’s call. ‘ _Commander Teale, DCI Hawkins, we’ve got twenty minutes,_ ’ the pilot said. ‘ _We’ll be starting descent soon._ ’

“Call me back in half an hour, will you?” Keith sighed, closing his eyes. “We’re about to land.”

Kolivan assured him he would, and then the comms cut off. The pod twisted, turning the horizon line a little less horizontal as it began to sweep down through the air towards the dispersed hamlet known as Naczella. 

It was spread over a large enough area that it despite being tiny, it was going to take more than an hour to reach all the buildings and fully search them. As they dropped down below the cloudbank, Keith looked back at his data pad again, frowning at the details still open and he held Kosmo steady.

“Do you know who was originally leading the investigation on the Naczella case?” he asked Zethrid. “Was that in any of the original files?”

Zethrid peered over at the file, checking through it. “It wasn't in the information, but I think I remember seeing Commander Brodar being on the news streams when it happened.” Keith added the background notes to his ‘ _think about it later_ ’ list. “Has anything come in from Antok and Tabor?” she asked.

After a quick check of his messages, Keith shook his head. “They’re still flying; Kolivan’s re-routed them to join us,” he said. “We need to think a little more about what happens when we land. Kolivan’s sent us a data drop. Did he send any maps or diagrams of the local buildings?”

Zethrid nodded, and they all began to compare the different houses that had been sent. There were a few public buildings, a pub, a greengrocer, a farm shop; none of them really stuck out as potential hideouts. Nearly all of the buildings matched the two-factor profile of Katie’s suspected location _—_ ‘ _old_ ’ and ‘ _s_ _tone walls_ ’ _—_ so there wasn't much narrowed down. Much to Regris’s relief, there was also a network access centre marked.

“I’ve been talking to the local grid authority and they’re going to try and get in the network and get a signal boost from the national grid working for us,” Regris said, as they all fumbled with the seatbelts after an alert from the pilot. “It might help the media teams back at head office. If he’s broadcasting from here, then Sendak has to be using it somewhere. The signal just needs some help. Even if I can narrow it to a smaller area, it might be enough.”

It was all dependent on if Katie was even being held in Naczella in first place, but Keith nodded all the same. 

His gut told him they were in the right area. Bogh’s testimony was backed up by his own actions off the camera feeds they had taken from Purificationist computers; he might not have helped much, but it was clear he’d been having second thoughts. Keith was confident in his judgement of him that he wasn't lying.

Lyrah had all the points to be more of a target, and he guessed that would be where any person would choose looking at the details of the two locations, but since when had historical importance stopped the Purificationists attacking smaller areas? 

They had started with his hometown, and Fort Garritt was so far away from anywhere that nobody cared up or down who your soulmate was, or if you married them or not. People were more worried about making a living, if the supply pods had been held back by storm season, and avoiding the peak of the sun on all but winter afternoons, or the chill of exposed desert night.

It wasn’t a historically important area, and nobody had any great interest in bond purism either; it didn’t meet the typical target criteria either. Yet, thanks to one man’s past mistakes, it had one of the highest casualty numbers for any Purificationist attack in comparison to the scale of the attack.

If Sendak wanted to make a statement with Katie’s murder, then doing it somewhere without any pre-existing connotations to pick up on would be better. 

In the end, they decided to stick to what they knew until more information came from Kolivan, and aim for buildings that had historical associations with soulbond law. Keith would go with Lance and his units. Zethrid would go with Alfor and his as they all targeted some of the initial standout buildings.

After some careful manoeuvring, the pilot landed them in a small square fronted on all sides by a greengrocer, and houses of the alarmed-looking local residents, and the doors began to slide open. Regris gave him a thumbs up, before jumping out of the pod with his laptop back, and hurrying over to what looked like a local police official, talking rapidly with the stunned man, before rushing off.

Ignoring the stunned locals, Keith followed Lance’s teams, going to the four places they had identified from the maps. One was an old faith centre that had been turned into a community hub and visitor centre for the Yalmor reserve to the north of the small town, and a couple of buildings whose structure had the right kind of dimensions to block modern signals. 

Really, Keith thought with no little exasperation and annoyance, they were just searching every building in the area, pretending they had a better idea of where to look. 

He stayed in contact with Alfor and Regris, as well as Antok and Tabor who were still flying over from Lyrah after Kolivan had redirected them. Regris didn't say much, just that he was working on the signal, and Regris and Tabor were both directing the teams according to the building information they had.

After a half hour of searching, they had made some progress; Zethrid’s team had actually found a couple of low-ranked cultists setting up some detonators in the main centre of the hamlet, in the the more recently-built faith centre; it was as good a confirmation as any that they were in the right area, but so far, they either claimed not to know anything about Katie, or refused to speak.

It was infuriating when they didn’t have the time to waste on human ignorance and stubbornness. Taking a breath to try and ease away his frustration, Keith pulled his phone from his pocket, looking for any updates from his team or Marchanda.

A string of short, curt words and expletives from Zethrid told him she and Alfor were having just as much luck, but there was a message from Kolivan. Opening it up, Keith had to squint at it a few times before he could finally make the single word out _—_ his lack of sleep was starting to catch up _—_ and realised it wasn’t a word at all.

It was a set of numbers, random ones until he managed to work out the dashes, and processed the format as coordinates. Why would Kolivan have sent coordinates in a message? If the team in Marchanda had found something so certain, wouldn’t he have phoned?

They were on the edge of the village, after another unsuccessful search of an old farmhouse that had been bought for renovations, perhaps a mile away from the landing zone. The coordinates, when Keith checked them into the map on his datapad, were situated at the opposite end of the village, but there was nothing on the map. 

Uncertain he tapped into his comms. “Regris, I’m sending you some coordinates, can you have a look at them for me?” he asked.

‘ _Send them through to me._ ’

Keith read them off as he followed Lance out of the farm warehouse they had been pouring through. Once outside his phone began to buzz insistently, and as Lance conferred with Alfor on his own comms on the next building search, Keith took the grateful break Kolivan’s call provided.

‘ _Keith,_ ’ Kolivan’s voice was sombre, and Keith felt his stomach churning hearing it. ‘ _Regris’s signal boost got us into the camera line. We still haven’t got the stream down, but we’ve established contact with Katie. You’re looking for a building with a delivery chute or ramp of some kind, one leading underground; we think he’s keeping her in a cellar, but you don’t have much time. Sendak changed the timer on the prototype while. the stream was down and the secondary timer has already activated._ ’

Keith let out a string of swears that made some of the raid team operatives standing nearby jump in surprise, and kicked the side of a rock jutting out of the mud.

“How much time do we _—_ ”

‘ _About half an hour, if Fate’s on our side._ ’

Keith swore incandescently. "Did you say something about a delivery ramp?" he checked, trying to calm down as yet another complication threatened to hand them failure on a silver platter.

‘ _There are two doors behind all the columns on the left-hand side; we caught them after Katie knocked the camera off the table and was able to give us a view of the room,_ ’ Kolivan said. ‘ _They look like they're for an old mill, pub, or abattoir, something that would get a cellar delivery drop._ ’

‘ _Keith those coordinates you just sent me, where did you get them?_ ’ Regris asked.

“They were a message from Kolivan,” Keith told him, bringing up a map of the area on his datapad to follow the markers Regris was adding into it. “It came up under his name. Why?”

‘ _Coordinates? What coordinates?_ ’ Kolivan asked, confirming Keith’s suspicions that the information had not been from the superintendent. ‘ _I haven't sent anything._ ’

‘ _There's an estate house that was turned into a theatre and pub a few miles outside of the village; it was closed down after being bought about two years ago; I have the schematics up, and it has a couple of pretty deep cellars. The details for the new owner are unlisted._ ’ Regris said. ‘ _But as far as I can tell your message came from the same computer that’s broadcasting the stream. It’s in close range of the signal, and the cellar is two storeys down._ ’

Keith heard Kolivan listing some stunned expletives. “Are there any other buildings that could be potential locations within the signal range?” he asked.

‘ _None close by, and none that meet all the factors we have so far._ ’

‘ _What are these coordinates?_ ’ Kolivan interrupted. ‘ _You think they’re from Sendak’s computer?_ ’ 

‘ _I don’t think, sir, I’m reasonably certain that they are._ ’ Regris said quietly. ‘ _Either Sendak is using our link to the camera to access Keith’s data, or it’s from the NCD agent._ ’ 

‘ _An agent who could very well be compromised,_ ’ Kolivan pointed out. ‘ _So far they’ve assisted the bare minimum; didn’t you think it was Bogh this afternoon? Wasn’t that why you sent Antok to Lyrah?’_

“It was,” Keith agreed. “And we did, but... we never actually got around to _asking_ Bogh if he was the agent. He offered all the information voluntarily, and the cameras from the bases already showed that he let Katie escape; between him and the NCD, I trusted what I’ve seen with my own eyes more.”

Kolivan’s response to that was stunned silence as Keith scrambled his thoughts, looking around at the farm warehouse they were currently situated at. They were at the eastern edge of the village; Zethrid and Alfor were at another location to the north of the village.

“Lance!” he yelled out, looking around and sighting a group of operatives coming out from the barn, including a familiar head of tan skin and brown hair. “Did anyone bring a hover bike up here?” He called out, once he had the unit leader’s attention.

‘ _Keith! You can’t seriously be considering—_ ’

“There’s one! Why?”

‘ _Keith! Don’t you da —_’

Keith had muted Kolivan’s line on his call. It was still running so Kolivan would still be kept in the loop of events, but Keith felt better trusting his own impressions and judgement than data right now. And right now, his gut was telling him that while he might have been wrong about Bogh, fate had given them a helping hand.

“I need it. If anyone else can climb on, great, if not, Regris is going to send some coordinates and you’ll just have to rush there as fast as you can! We have a new deadline; Sendak scammed us over again and Katie's failsafe has already started.”

Lance spluttered but pointed towards the back of the warehouse, rushing alongside him as Keith let out a whistle. Kosmo, who had been resting patiently after inspecting the building for bombs, or any sign of Katie, barked eagerly, rushing over as they climbed onto the machine.

It wasn’t quite kitted out for a dog the way Keith had customised his own, but Lance was able to squish into the passenger well with him as Keith kicked the gears to life, going into the manual controls required to take the quickest course to the coordinates already loading into the bike from the navigation and police mapping system on his phone.

The hum of the magnetic vibrations that lifted the hover bike from the ground filled their ears, and in a moment, they were off, kicking higher and higher, skimming fences and the river that ran through the small hamlet, following its banks before lifting back over onto the fields after making the length of the village. 

It was spread out enough that even at the highest speed Keith was confident handling on an unfamiliar bike, before he skewed around in a loop, heading up towards the south end of Naczella where the coordinates were leading him. As they approached the large stone building, hidden amongst trees and hedges, an old estate house with a crumbling wall surrounding it, something began to layer in the air.

_00:00:19:31_

It was a thick and choking scent that churned Keith's stomach. He couldn't see it anywhere, but the smell of smoke told him there was already a fire burning somewhere.

“Shit,” Lance muttered as the hoverbike skidded to a stop, falling to the ground with a less than gentle clank that probably damaged something. “Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit; can you smell that?” 

He looked around, his eyes matching Keith’s gaze at the ripples in the mud where a set of hovercar magnets had left depressions from their vibrations in the earth. There were four, around the spacing associated with a reasonably sized hover car, and some of the grass was still flattened to the point it looked as though it had been ironed to the earth.

“They didn’t waste any time getting out of here,” Lance snorted. “The grass is still stuck. I’ll take the pub if you take the theatre?”

Keith nodded, jumping off the bike and taking his Luxite from his holster, activating it immediately. “Kosmo, come on, time to go to work again,” he called out as the dog scrambled out to follow. 

Despite the urgency, Keith never shouted at his dog. It didn't make Kosmo any more cooperative, and unless he was calling him back from afar, it only made him upset. Kosmo was well trained, and he didn't need it. He knew when he could run around like a headless chicken and chase pigeons or splash in his bath; likewise when he heard the word ‘ _work_ ’, Kosmo knew he was to listen to his commands and do as Keith told him to.

_00:00:17:56_

As Lance made the back-up calls over his comms and headed for the doors to the abandoned pub on the right-hand side of the large old building, Keith jacked his knife through the lock of the theatre doors, pushing them open and shoving his way inside, Kosmo following close behind him. 

Everything was coated in a fine layer of dust. Giving Kosmo a command for quiet, he crouched down and fiddled with the buttons on his working collar. The station had a list of scent replicators in the programming and the collar would recreate the ones selected as needed; Keith selected the one that all of the sniffer dogs had been used in each of the crime scenes where Katie had been located so far.

Kosmo only had a collar because he was in the station so often, but it looked like the collar had been charged, and Keith needed all the help he could get. He knew that the dog squad had given him a bit of training in scent tracking, and he was desperate enough.

“Alright boy,” Keith said, scratching the dog’s ears as he sniffed the air following the pneumatic scent expression from his collar. “Bit of a long shot, but since you're here, see if you can sniff her out for me,” he told him. Kosmo perked up as he sniffed the air, looking around and looking at Keith for the command to lead on. 

Keith gave it to him without any hesitation. “Go on,” he urged, and Kosmo began to look around. 

Keith knew that walking around without backup with only his dog in what could potentially be a trap, when there was already a fire somewhere in the building, was a bad idea. He knew that, but they didn’t have the time to waste. A quick glance at the time on the hoverbike dashboard before they had slipped inside had told him they had just under twenty-five minutes to find Katie before they were in the time limits for the Prototype to overheat, catch alight, and she was burned alive.

Keith refused to let that happen. They had got this far because of her. She’d bought herself this time, fought Sendak at every turn, and completely ruined his plans. For once, the police teams needed to actually do the jobs they should have been able to do, what their Agent should have done, weeks ago, and get her out of this nightmare Sendak had imprisoned her in.

‘ _Keith, I can't get inside the cellar over here; it’s completely cut off,_ ’ Lance said over the comms, coughing a little. ‘ _I've called for backup and local fire teams. I'm going to try to keep searching for another way in._ ’

Keith bit back a swear. “Alright. I'm going to keep searching here. It hasn't reached the upper levels here yet,” he said.

Following through the halls, Keith walked slowly, his hackles raised as much as Kosmo’s as he whined uncomfortably between his sniffs. The building was silent, and the sunset was starting to beam through the large windows behind him.

He could see smoke hanging at ceiling height, and the swirl of air from the now open doorway casting its movements on the wall in a shadow that had Keith starting, switching his Luxite to blaster mode for a moment.

Realising it was just the smoke moving, he followed Kosmo to a large set of double doors.

He could smell smoke more clearly in the room beyond them _—_ the large performance hall _—_ starting to condense in the artfully vaulted ceiling above him. Kosmo barked, running down the walkway between rotten fabric and decomposing wooden seats towards the stage. Jumping up he scraped at the floor, and Keith followed, patching Kolivan's line back off mute.

“Has the fire reached Katie yet?” he asked. “Has the prototype been activated already?” he asked, climbing up onto the stage, looking around.

‘ _No, not yet, but the smoke is being drawn into the room,_ ’ Kolivan said. ‘ _Where are you?_ ’

“I'm on the stage,” Keith said, activating the torch on his Luxite. The dust wasn't as thick, and there was a trapdoor hatch in the centre of the stage. He could see footprints too, which he followed. There had to be a way to the lower level besides the trapdoor.

Finding a doorway into an old dressing room, Keith made his way under the stage, and found a mechanism in line with the hatch he’d seen above _—_ it was broken, but it was a clean break, a recent one. Amongst the gears was something else.

_00:00:14:42_

There was a clump of moulding around the broken cogs, like moulded purple plasticine. Set into it was a single use web-cam.

Stomach churning, Keith bolted back towards the changing room. 

_00:00:14:00_

As he scrambled from the underside of the stage, heat blasted behind him, searing the back of his neck as he made for a side exit back into the main hall. “Kolivan there are other bombs in the building,” he coughed, staggering between the rows of chairs as flames licked up from the now broken, blasted stage. “There was a plastic bomb, on the trapdoor mechanism; I can't find another way down,” Keith coughed, whistling for Kosmo, who was already barking and rushing to catch up. “If there's another stairwell down to the cellar in here, I can't get to it.”

‘ _What kind of transmitter did you see?_ ’ Regris asked. ‘ _Manual or remote input? Setting display at all?_ ’

“No display, just a single use web-cam, so Sendak could be remote detonating?”

‘ _Maybe, but… if it’s just a simple trigger mechanism he’s set to react to the camera settings..._ ’

Keith felt like kicking something again at the implication. If there was someone lingering to set off the bombs and stop them getting to Katie directly, then that complicated things.

“I’ll keep an eye out,” he promised. “Is there another way down to the cellar than from the stage area? What about the explosion? It hasn’t––”

‘ _The explosion echoed over Katie, but the cellar is below a stone floor, so it hasn’t dropped down yet_ ’ He said. ‘ _The hatch we told you about. Go into the kitchen and out the back door. It's on your left._ ’

“Which way?” he asked.

‘ _Back out of the hall, turn to your right. Third on the left of the corridor._ ’

_00:00:10:31_

Keith followed those instructions, running as fast as he could. As he was hurrying along the corridor, there was another blast, one that started ringing in his ears and had him skidding backwards into a wall from the explosion of rubble and flames blocking his path. 

Kosmo barked as he backed up from the fire, turning and scrambling unsteadily back to his feet and rushing back the way he’d come in. “C-Can't go that way either! I’m going back outside!” he coughed, rushing for the doorway. “The fire’s spread! Lance! Have you found anything outside?”

Static screeched in his ear.

“Lance?”

There was nothing in reply. Had his comms been damaged by the explosion? Keith tried a few different channels as he looked around the front of the building, trying to gauge a direction, but all he could hear was static.

Following the path, he stopped for a moment, and pressed the button on Kosmo’s collar again. “Try again boy, out here this time,” he urged between heavy breaths.

_00:00:07:47_

Kosmo sniffed, and rushed off, leading him around the opposite side of the building, through the winding edge of it. The windows were starting to flicker in places, and he could hear the crackle of breaking glass. The rooms at the back of the building which had been designated as a pub were already billowing with smoke.

It was overgrown, a tangle of bramble and overgrown grass, weeds and nettles behind the theatre, so when Kosmo began to bark, and rushed off, it was harder to follow him. He tried his comms again as he worked through it, but there was nothing. 

Trying his phone, he couldn’t get an answer from Lance, and tried not to let that make him feel too uneasy. Regris was probably right; the timing of those bombs had been far too close to be on timers. They had been remotely detonated. Sendak had been watching through that camera. 

He didn't have any choice but to plough ahead; by chance or fate, he’d stumbled onto the right suspicions, and they were here. By some miracle his mad plan to investigate Naczella had been right. 

Kolivan said they could _hear_ the explosions in the room Katie was being held in over the stream. She was _here_ , in this building, right beneath his feet somewhere. Either he could let Katie die or live up to everything his dad had ever taught him. He was within a hair’s breadth of finding her. The choice was obvious. 

Bashing his way through the overgrowth, he followed the sound of Kosmo’s barks until they were at the back of the building, right in the centre of the building, behind the stage hall. Rising from the ground at an angle were a set of heavy metal shutters that had been welded closed.

_00:00:05:21_

Picking up his Luxite again, Keith looked at the hinges; grabbing onto one of the handles, he changed the setting on his luxite blade, and began to aim the flaring blade against each one, using the specialised blade and blaster to melt through them. Then, with a grunt of effort from the weight, he used the handles to lift and drag and heave the doors to one side.

They clanged as he dropped them onto the stone of the pathway; catching his breath again and Keith looked down the narrow hollow; there was a stairway leading down into cold stone and a metal door at the bottom, a hint of smoke rising in the air towards him. 

_00:00:01:47_

After telling Kosmo to wait, Keith rushed down, taking the steps two at a time, before twisting the handle for the heavy bolts on the door, and swinging it open. Smoke billowed out of the room, but there was no heat, and he could hear something. Someone coughing, trying to call out for help.

He could also hear beeping, and through the light haze as he ran towards the woman strung up against one of the pillars, he could see the time on the prototype blinking at him, a few feet away from the brown-haired woman they had been searching for over the past five weeks.

The ticking numbers were more than enough motivation to scramble across the room as fast as he could. Katie was still struggling, screaming, and Keith could see Kolivan and Sam on the computer screen in front of her as he rushed over.

Keith chopped at the ropes around the pillar, pulling them away until her arms were free and he could grab onto her, untangle her from the trappings. She writhed and struggled as he pulled her against his shoulder. As Katie thrashed out in panicked desperation, Keith focused on the stairs. 

He had to get her out. It felt like they were on the horizon instead of a few meters away; his lungs felt like they were burning. Each step up felt like a mile instead of a few inches. Kosmo was barking above them, as he stumbled closer and closer to the ground level.

Katie’s weight wasn’t as heavy as he’d expected, probably lighter than it should have been, even for such a small person, but it was still enough to slow him down. 

_00:00:00:15_

Keith stumbled out into the grounds from the stairway, gasping at the fresh air. His lungs were screaming but he ran for the trees, for the dim shelter of the overgrown garden behind the theatre until the ground beneath him shuddered, and heat bloomed behind them. 

_00:00:00:00_

Something rang like thunder and heat bloomed behind them, and he stumbled. Realising he was losing his footing, Keith pulled Katie against his shoulder, cradling a hand at the back of her head as they tumbled over the ground.

He could hear debris landing around them, the crunch and crack of rock and glass, smell the dust and smoke and fumes in the air, feel the heat from the mouth of the cellar hatch, the snap of glass windows imploding under the heat pressure, and a snarl.

Kosmo barked, and Keith heard the warning; he saw the swirl of movement and the dark shoe amongst the billows of smoke. His head was screaming, and it felt like there was persistent white noise in one of his ears, so if it hadn’t been for Kosmo, he might not have been alerted to the blow.

Then a fist slammed into his jaw, knocking him off his feet and throwing Katie from his grip across the dirt and grass into the trees. Sendak was much bulkier in person; Keith had already noted that he didn’t have much of a height profile against the cult leader, and he couldn’t help but feel dwarfed by the man as he did his best to defend, putting himself between the cultist and Katie.

“Kosmo, stay with Katie!” He barked, before another fist slammed into his jaw, and he felt a knee being slammed into his ribs, knocking the leftover air from his lungs, and sending him across the ground again. 

Kosmo barked and barked, but Keith knew he was doing as told; he wouldn’t let Sendak near her. Knowing there was some kind of defence for her, he felt a bit more confident, and dug his hand in his holster, trying to find––

His Luxite was knocked quickly from his hand, sent flying overhead into the undergrowth. “You really are a credit to your profession Mr Hawkins,” Sendak snarled, pressing a foot down over his throat, leaning down, his weight cutting off his windpipe as Keith strained to push him away. “I really thought I’d covered every last trace of our presence, but no matter; I’m glad I stayed. Better to remove your complicating presence from any future plans.”

Kosmo barked somewhere in close by. In Sendak’s hand Keith could see a lighter flicking back and forth with the snap of his wrist; Katie was still some distance away, trying to move, struggling and limp from exhaustion. Keith could see his dog standing over her, hackles raised and threatening towards the danger, but unwilling to move from his task of protection without a command.

If Sendak threw the lighter towards her his dog wouldn’t be able to stop all the chemicals she’d been doused in catching light.

Straining against the weight, Keith lifted the heavy boot enough to snarl with relish at the man. “Thanks to Bogh,” he gasped. “I didn’t even have to offer him a reduced sentence.” 

Sendak’s face faltered; disbelief took over for a moment, and Keith knocked him back. He slammed his fist into him, his hand going for the lighter as he lunged, trying to grab Sendak’s arm. He couldn't let him get to Katie.

The flame seared over his cheek, blistering the skin on his face as he heaved all his weight onto the arm, trying to scramble for it. “Kosmo!” he roared. His dog was snarling as he broke out of his obedient restraint, following the sound of his voice as a compass point and jumping immediately to his attacker, teeth sinking into Sendak's arm.

Sendak screamed at the pain and Keith struck him again, knocking him back and snatching the lighter from his hands and hurling it back towards the flames of the burning building encroaching behind them. The flames were billowing out from the building into the trees now, the smoke swirling, clouding everything. 

Sendak didn’t stay down very long, throwing Kosmo off behind him with a yelp; Keith’s hits were battered back quickly, until a hand closed around the back of his neck, slamming his head against the ground until the world was spinning again. Something felt like it slammed into his leg so hard it nearly snapped and he screamed, grabbing onto the hand closing on his neck and dragging him across the ground.

As long as Sendak wasn’t paying her any attention, Katie had a chance. Had she managed to run? Keith couldn’t see her, but he couldn’t see a thing in anything but haze as he was lifted from the ground, and dragged towards the building, towards the flames.

Crap. He hadn’t thought this through at all. Where was Lance? Hadn’t he called back-up? Where were the other teams? Were they close by? How much time had passed? He tried to kick Sendak’s balance out from under him. Damn it, if he had his luxite he could just _—_

Something blasted into them, and he hit the ground hard again as he was dropped from Sendak’s grip. He could hear screaming. Sendak. Sendak was screaming; lifting his head, Keith could see someone writhing, flame burning on their arm, and another blurry figure knocking what looked like a beam against Sendak’s head.

“Get up!” a frantic, but quiet-toned voice called out, shoving something into his hands. “Get up! There’s a break in the wall straight ahead, and a road! Your team is on the way over! Run! Get her out of here!”

Eventually his vision straightened a little and Keith started as he got to his feet, aided by the man who had interrupted Sendak’s presumed plans to throw him into the burning cellar. 

_Macidus?_

Another crash inside the building and the sound of Kosmo’s anxious whines and barks prompted his legs to move. Macidus grabbed one of his hands and pulled him to his feet, and as grateful for the help as he was—and after being inches from fiery, painful death, he _was_ grateful for it—Keith couldn’t help shrugging it off despite his unsteady gait.

Instead, he focused his gaze on Katie, rushing over to where Kosmo had returned to stand guard beside her. She’d rolled further than he’d thought, and the marks in the mud and dirt told him she’d been trying to push herself away from the double dangers of Sendak and the blaze behind them.

Exhaustion and fear had stilled her efforts a bit, and she’d curled up, trying to block out the noise, trying to protect herself, her breathing ragged and choked with sobs as Keith forced himself to move. She mumbled and protested incoherently as he slid an arm under her shoulders and legs, twisting in protest, but he couldn't stop to try and reassure her yet.

Staggering to his back to his feet Keith bolted, Kosmo barking at his heels, urging them on as he ducked under some more branches, trying to avoid the chunks of brick and burning wood still being hurled and thrown in their direction from the crumbling building now utterly consumed by flames.

Smaller fires were beginning to start and spread through the overgrowth. He had to try and steer clear from them as he stumbled forward; one inch too far would be enough for the flammables seeped into Katie’s hair and skin and clothes to catch alight. They were lucky there hadn't been any sparks to hit her already. 

The pain in his leg was shooting through it up to his knee now. Had Sendak even done anything besides use his massive presence to just stomp on him? Repeatedly? Several times he nearly stumbled, and every step felt like a poker was being shoved through his shin.

Finally, they made it. He stumbled over the crumbling rocks, the gap in the wall surrounding the grand old estate house. The road to the village stretched past them, up the hill to the north, and Keith headed towards it.

After a while, the pain was too much even limping along, and Keith collapsed at the side of the road, as far away from the burning house and garden as he could get them on the rough moorland grass and heather stretching out around them.

He could hear sirens in the distance. Had Lance managed to call for backup? What had happened to him? Was he still back at the house? Had he been caught in the fire? Keith hoped not. 

Someone was running around the corner of the wall up ahead along the roadside towards him, waving, or was that a warning gesture? He couldn’t tell. He hoped it wasn’t Sendak. He wanted to think he was charcoal now, but it would be better for everyone if they could catch him alive.

Kosmo was barking excitedly, jumping back and forth in front of them, looking between Keith and the figure running towards them, so Keith assumed his improved mood meant that it was someone his dog recognised.

Katie was still mumbling and cowering in his arms, and he focused his attention on her instead, supervised by Kosmo’s worried whines and licks at the blood on her hands, her nose and lip when Keith told him to ‘ _Sit and stay'._

Opening his hand as his dog tried to give Katie some reassurance, Keith stared at his luxite for a long moment _—_ Macidus had shoved something into his hands earlier, hadn’t he? _—_ before switching it to the normal blade, and carefully starting to cut away the tape (half-pulled already) away from Katie's mouth and jaw. She needed to breathe properly first and foremost. The he cut away the ropes still on her arms and legs. 

She coughed and sputtered when she spat the gag out and thumped weakly at his shoulders as the sudden movements spooked her. “Please don't hurt me!” she choked through the sobs. “Let me go! Please, please, please don't hurt me! Please…” she begged.

She was hysterical, mumbling, delirious from the smoke, her voice raspy and harsh, and nowhere near as loud or as fierce as her determination and sheer demand to survive suggested it ought to be. She could hardly focus, and Keith had no idea what to say to try and reassure her. 

What was he supposed to say after what she’d been put through? He’d been trained for things like this (and in Kolivan’s words ‘ _passed the tests by the skin of your teeth_ ’), but not really. None of his training felt like it was going to help him this time. 

“You're safe now,” he blurted, saying the first words that came to mind as he recognised Zethrid’s tight, mad curly hair and heavy shoulders as the figure got closer to them. “I’m not going to hurt you Katie, you're going to be okay.” he continued, sitting back so she could try to squint at him.

She looked scared to believe it, squinting and trying to shield her eyes. She stared at him nervously, unsure and uncertain, disbelieving, confused. “W-What?” she croaked out, before the single word made her start coughing again. 

Keith tried to keep his arms open so she could breathe, even as he helped her sit up. He had to keep her awake. She was probably at risk of smoke inhalation, and he didn’t want to resort to emergency CPR if she panicked and stopped breathing, or choked. He was terrible at it. If he just kept her talking that might help?

“You’re safe now,” he repeated, putting a hand behind her shoulder to help her sit up, reassure her without making her feel caged as he unclipped his badge from his belt. “You’re safe now; my name is Keith Hawkins. I’m a DCI from Marchanda Polic _—_ ” he mumbled.

He broke off as she slumped, sobbing into his shoulder, a rapid switch from the caution she’d been eyeing him with; carefully, he put an arm around her back, letting her cry—a fresh wave of tears that sounded like they were choking on relief—collapse, grab at his jacket, curl up and hide.

Whatever she needed to, as long as it involved breathing. 

“ _—_ you’re okay” Keith mumbled, his breath shaking in his voice. He didn’t really know what he was saying. He just knew he had to say something to try and reassure her now. Kosmo was sitting over his knees, head in her lap. “You’re safe now,” he repeated again. “You’re okay.”

She wasn't. Not at all. She was covered in petrol and there were still bits of Komar fluid clinging to her clothes that had started to burn her skin. She’d been held hostage for weeks, been tortured, drugged, and left without a single trustworthy, or familiar face to rely on. 

She was bruised to the nines, covered in small burns and sores, terrified, hysterical, and traumatised, and Keith could see how much weight she’d lost since the first call Sendak had made to her father. She was everything _but_ okay.

“You’ll be okay...” he mumbled. “You made it, you’re alive, we’ve got you,” he chattered, shifting his arms as the sobs started to lessen, and her grip on him got tighter, scared not of him anymore, but of being left alone again. “You’ll be okay...”

Keith could feel himself tearing up, but he wasn’t sure if that was because of how mixed up he was, or how much of a decompression of tension he was feeling form the knowledge that they'd done it, from speaking to Katie for the first time in the entire investigation, or because of Kosmo’s weight.

His leg was really, really starting to hurt, and he flopped onto his back, staring up at the cloud of billing smoke, and the glints of embers against the darkening county sky. He was so tired

Katie was alive, and the investigation was, for now at least, finally over

.

* * *

_To Be Continued In_

**Part IV**   
**Dream The Dream All Over**

* * *

FINALLY ❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎

I know I said that there would be another chapter for this POV and Keith's, but after the edits I've made posting these last few chapters I feel they'll make better sense in the next part of the story, so this is where Part III ends! Thank you so much for sticking with me through this, and for believing in happy endings!

Let me know what you thought of this chapter, but also the series as a whole so far. As I've said before, this is far and away from my usual genre and preferences, and it was a serious personal challenge to write, but while its not the the most popular thing I've ever written (which, honestly, I expected XD ) it's been one of my favourites to write.

Please subscribe to the series alerts and keep an eye out for the next part which will focus on some well-earned recoveries, mental processing, ~~and... you know, Keith and Katie having actual human interaction~~.

Thank you to LuceCiel, whose half a page of head cannons gave birth to this, and Fairia, who had to tolerate my endless screaming while this was being written, and to everyone reading for letting me share this with you, and for supporting it up to now ❤︎


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